ABOUT THE BOOK

With rigorous assessments and interviews, you can hire the best employees; but you need a different approach to retain your promising employees and high performers, or you may lose them to a happy competitor within six months. When an employee resigns, it is not only a loss to your business because time and resources have been spent in recruitment, onboarding and training; you are also losing revenues in the process of finding a worthy replacement. If only you could discern the warning signals, you would be amazed that some of your smiling employees have not walked out of your door yet, but they have mentally checked out. Some are actively hunting for new opportunities, while others plan to make a change in the next six months.

Gone are the days when employers yelled at their employees. “If you cannot do it, resign! So many people are looking for jobs out there.” Recent times have seen a tidal wave of resignations. The numbers are alarming, and this trend is likely not over. Until employers stop using the soldier-go-soldier-come approach for employees, they may never be able to build a sustainable business. Until you have stable employees, you cannot say you have a business. Kingsley has had over a decade of experience working with several employers across various organizations, some of which he has shared in this book extensively. His practical strategies have helped many business owners to build stable employees and profitable businesses.

Why I wrote this book

I used to admonish would-be entrepreneurs to have some working experience before starting a business. I was too quick to judge people who declared that they could never work under anyone. This mindset may be faulty, but from another perspective, they have genuine reasons for saying this. He who finds a good employer or works in a good company may not know what the Lord has done for him until he listens to the agony of other employees in different workplaces.  

I have had over a decade of experience working with various employers across various organizations. I started working the same month I left secondary school in 2011. Wetin my Musa never see for gate? I have had some employers who I wish to work with again, and I have had some employers who I don’t pray to meet with, even in hell. There were some workplaces where I resigned officially by giving the usual one-month prior notice. There were other workplaces where I endured till the last day of the month so as to receive my last salary before zooming off.

There were some employers I left as an omolúàbi, and there were some employers I left slamming the doors on their faces. Haven’t you heard of employees who gang up to beat their boss? There were some workplaces where I could convince my employer to change some management policies that were affecting the growth of the business negatively. There were other places where I was seen as a rebel for trying to champion or clamour for a change in policy.

Many companies have ‘audio’ values that attract great talents to them, only for these talents to realize that the employers do not act by these values. Working with some employers is synonymous with choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Na wetin man go chop dey make most employees endure the physical and mental torture of most employers. There were times when I put my head on the office desk and cried my eyes out.

Wale Agoro shared his experience on Twitter;

I worked with a private school as a school bursar. No holiday! (Just two days of holiday if any – December 25th and January 1st) No leave! No incentive! No festive gift! Sometimes, I even go to the office on Sundays. Most of these employers are like Egyptian taskmasters. I resumed by 7 am daily and indefinite closing hours for no reason. I remembered closing at 5 pm on one midterm break, and my boss started complaining.  

I remembered one of the schools I taught where it was taboo for you to take a nap, even during break time. In fact, teachers were compelled to be at work during public holidays just to sit down and do nothing. I know an employer who had over 15 employees. She never picked up her phone one day to call any of her employees all through the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Dear employer, some of your employees have not walked out of your door yet, but they have mentally checked out. Some of your employees are already passively looking for another job. I wrote my resignation letter three months before finally leaving a job. I kept it in my room in a place where I could see it every day.

I once worked in a company in Ibadan. Before the company was celebrating its first-year anniversary, ten full-time employees had resigned. I resumed in March as an intern. By September of the same year, I was the oldest staff. Before I eventually resigned in December, two other persons who were hired after me had already left too. Coincidentally, the three of us submitted our resignation letters almost the same day.

I know of one lady who was immediately replaced without notice during her maternity leave. She came back to resume work after her one-month leave, only to discover that she had been replaced. This made everyone scared of taking a leave. Even the HR Manager who was planning his wedding could not request a leave.

How you treat your employees will determine how they will treat every customer that walks into your shop. How you treat your houseboy is how he will treat your children and visitors, especially in your absence. If you treat your employees poorly, they will treat your customers poorly and vice versa. No matter the frequency of morning devotions you do in your workplace, if you do not take care of your employees, your business will suffer.

According to Samy EL Samuel, “I was once hired by a restaurant in Abuja to run ads and to manage their social media. After running the ads and responding to a lot of inquiries that got traffic to the restaurant, the woman who owned the restaurant called me to complain that she only saw the crowd for just a few weeks and it was as if they all came in at once and disappeared at once. I was quite worried, but I assured her that if the ads could get people to send a lot of inquiry messages, then the fault could be something else. Then, I tried to ask those who made inquiries if they enjoyed the service and would patronize again. Many of them expressed their displeasure at the attitude of the attendants and workers they met, and they were never going to come again. I felt really bad.”

Adejoke Okanlawon Raji shared her experience on Twitter;

I had a contract job from 7:30 am – 5 pm with an hour break on my offer letter (a bank, actually). In the long run, new management came and said that we needed training which was supposed to last for six months. We were told to resume by 7:15 am so that we could do the training before the usual meeting. Lo and behold, the training that was supposed to be for six months stayed forever. Apparently, resumption time was 7:15 am, and closure time was unknown. Let's not even talk about the nonsense one-hour break. Breakfast was usually taken in the afternoon. The whole morning was already occupied with meetings like witches and wizards. To even apply makeup sef na war. I looked all gloomy in the early hours of the day. Let me give you an instance. For someone who got to work by 7 am, before you know it, the training and meeting ate up the time till 7:58 am, and you are rushing here and there to put things in place. You are already disorganized. Then, an impatient customer walks in at 8 am and starts yelling at you.

Can you boast of at least two-thirds of your employees that have worked with you in the last year?

Hiring the best talents to drive your business growth and achieve your business goals is as important as retaining them.

Successful organizations and great businesses are built on talented and committed employees. 

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