Flight of the Employee Network
Loss of Well-Connected Employees Means Loss of Social Capital
When Jerry, a senior product manager, left his place of employment after 15 years, his departure caused a bit of a dust-up. He retired earlier than planned so he didn’t have ample time to fully train his replacement. It’s a story that’s familiar to Human Resource professionals: a long-term, highly skilled employee departs the company, leaving their former department with a loss of hard-to-replace knowledge. Often called the “brain drain” when applied to the phenomenon of the baby boomers reaching retirement age, companies are now starting to proactively implement knowledge retention strategies to address this concern.
But there’s more to the story. In addition to being a knowledge loss to the Product Management team, Jerry’s absence was felt in other ways too. Due to his extensive network of connections, Jerry was the star fundraiser for the company’s favorite charitable organization. When he left, so did $15,000 in charitable donations, and, possibly, some goodwill towards the company.
As Jerry’ story points out, there’s another force out there draining an organization’s strength. Call it the Flight of the Network. The departure of an employee’s professional network could be equally as detrimental to an organization as the loss of critical organizational memory.
Just as the term “human capital” refers to the knowledge and skills that employees bring to their organizations, there’s a “social capital” that many employees possess as well. Ivan Misner, author of the book Networking Like a Pro says this: “Social capital is the accumulation of resources developed in the course of social interactions, especially through personal and professional networks. These resources include ideas, knowledge, information, opportunities, contacts and referrals. They also include trust, confidence, friendship, good deeds and goodwill.” (pp. 3-4)
The question is—can an organization lay claim to an employee’s professional network in the same way that they can attempt to preserve organizational knowledge?
It’s a difficult, but not impossible task. Networks are comprised of people who have a mutual affinity for each other, not necessarily an organization. So it’s unreasonable to believe there can be a wholesale transfer of a departing employee’s social connections back into the organization.
Now, the good news: there are a few proactive measures company management can take to help ensure that not all social capital evaporates when a well-connected employee departs.
Arrange introductions. Ask the departing employee to provide a list of key vendors, service providers and resources for the purpose of making an introduction. Together, review the list and determine which ones merit a joint phone call of introduction or if an email introduction will suffice.
Promote networking. Networking is not just for your company’s sales team. Rather than leave relationship-building to a few employees, be sure that all employees are encouraged to cultivate their networks. If you’re in management, be sure that you are modeling appropriate networking activities. Yes, it’s hard to break away from a busy workload, but how can you expect your team to do so if you don’t?
Hold employees accountable. If your company is paying professional organization dues, ensure that people are actually attending meetings. Ask team members, “What value are you getting out of this organization?” Cull out non-productive memberships.
Social capital is yet another intangible resource that Human Resources would be wise to incorporate into their overall talent management strategy. When valued employees leave an organization, it doesn’t have to mean all their networking connections must leave with them. By implementing the proactive measures listed above, savvy organizational leaders can ensure that not all social capital will take flight even when an employee does.
Jennifer V. Miller is the Managing Partner of SkillSource, a training and consulting company that helps emerging leaders “master the people equation”. Her experience as a human resources generalist, training facilitator and corporate manager helps her develop the “people side” of those who want to maximize their influence. Join the conversation about workplace dynamics and professionalism in the digital age at Jennifer’s blog The People Equation.
8 Comments on “ Flight of the Employee Network ”
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[...] A while back, Erik Samdahl, Director of Marketing for the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), asked if I’d like to contribute an article to their blog HRM Today, which of course, I was happy to do. The article is called Flight of the Employee Network and it’s about how the loss of well-connected employees might mean the loss of “social capital” for an organization. Check it out here. [...]
Posted on 1. March 2011 at 13:07
Good post Jennifer. This seems like a daunting task to gain even a reasonable transfer of a departing employee’s network. All employees are different, so even when the introductions are made and opportunities are created for networking, it can be a long time before new relationships are in place. That being said, I think this is a great issue to discuss further. I know within my own team, some of us are heavily into networking, while others are content to simply be a part of the team. Great issue!
Posted on 2. March 2011 at 04:26
Jay,
“Daunting” is a good word to describe this situation. Even though my article outlines a few proactive measures to take, the fact remains that it’s a slow process. Networking is by nature predicated on the steady progression of trust-building. It can’t be rushed.
So the upshot is that HR professionals need to factor it in, yet realize that patience much prevail.
Posted on 2. March 2011 at 05:13
“Networks are comprised of people who have a mutual affinity for each other, not necessarily an organization. So it’s unreasonable to believe there can be a wholesale transfer of a departing employee’s social connections back into the organization.”
Truer words have never been spoken, although in my experience many employers feel those connections “belong” to the company. In fact, I recently read an article called “Who owns an employee’s LinkedIn contacts?” The correct answer was: shut up.
HR professionals can take steps to prevent the “brain drain” but it can be an uphill battle. Thanks for the fine article, Jennifer!
Posted on 2. March 2011 at 06:19
Good points here. I think in the turmoil of many businesses and organisations these days, the networking/social capital is arguably THE most important asset – for all the reasons noted in the article, as well as for the individual’s mental health and resilience. And it can’t be done rapidly or in a mercenary fashion – social capital only really builds with trust and integrity in the longer term I think.
Very interesting to see how those networks are working in extreme political upheaval in the middle east as well as how (I think) various almost old fashioned “movements” are gathering pace (eg. Action for Happiness, New Economics Foundation).
I think it’s impossible to take on someone else’s network in the same form as they have. Ok, you might get a list of contact details, but the relationships are unique. That is not to say that someone else in an organisation cannot form their own relationship with people in the departing person’s network but it will be that – a new relationship.
Thanks for the article!
Posted on 2. March 2011 at 06:51
@Sam– it amazes me to think that a company would actually attempt to “own” a person’s LinkedIn contacts. . .if you have the article and would be willing to provide the link, I’d be very interested to see that.
@Sarah– I agree that it will be interesting to see how social capital is factored into a company’s abilitiy to create a vibrant workplace culture.
Both of you have also pointed to an aspect that I think it vital for all HR leaders to embrace– there’s only so much the HR professional can (and should) do to attempt to reclaim those professional relationships from a departing employee.
Thanks for your comments!
Posted on 2. March 2011 at 07:04
[...] originele artikel vindt u hier. Ik heb mijn inspiratie echter van het webblog P&O Actueel [...]
Posted on 7. March 2011 at 23:32
[...] originele artikel vindt u hier. Ik heb mijn inspiratie echter van het webblog P&O Actueel [...]
Posted on 15. November 2011 at 05:13