Primary election
We’re just a few days away from a primary election in which we will choose the Democratic candidates for U.S. House of Representatives in the second district and U.S. Senate. The choices will be difficult, not because of the issues, but because all the candidates are waging campaigns bringing out the worst in our system. At their best elections are supposed to raise issues, produce spirited debates and become the birthplace of new ideas and creative solutions to long-standing problems.
But our system of politics has become one in which victory seems contingent upon how high you can raise your opponent’s negatives, without doing too much damage to your own, and how much money you can spend on primarily television advertising.
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This is no longer a lesson in democracy, but a painful example of distortions, abuse of wealth (the candidate’s own or that which they raise; it makes little difference), and how not to generate new and creative ideas.
Look at the ads, the distorted picture of an opponent followed by a gleaming portrait of the candidate who has produced the ad. There are the claims, the counter-claims that the ad is misleading, and the demands the ads be taken off the air.
This negative campaigning or the distaste for it isn’t new. But it never ceases to amaze when there are good qualified candidates, that they are so prone to resort to negative campaigning, following the advice of high-priced out-of-area consultants. They simply fail to clearly and intelligently present the issues to the voters.
It has not been our practice to make endorsements in the primary elections, and if we had an inclination to do so this year we would be hard pressed to make a choice, sorting through the variety of negative slogans, distorted pictures and positions.
We can only hope that when we enter the general election for all these offices, candidates concentrate on telling us why we should elect them, giving us a better understanding of how they stand on all the issues.
Retaining employees
If you suspect that employee turnover is costing you money – you’re right.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the cost of replacing an employee is 30 percent of that person’s annual earnings. A group called Development Dimensions International has broken down exactly where that money is spent. Expenditures include relocation; training; advertising; severance packages; candidate travel costs and administrative costs to process all candidates.
The flip side of a booming economy – at least for employers – is that it means an abundance of opportunities for talented workers. And don’t think for a second that your workers aren’t looking for those opportunities – regardless of how happy they may be at work.
One myth debunked by the DDI report is that “employee satisfaction equals employee retention.” It just isn’t so. In fact, the DDI report showed that less than 10 percent of the employees surveyed said they were dissatisfied with their jobs. But more than a quarter of employees, regardless of their satisfaction level, plan to look for a new job within a year.
Though employee turnover has plagued companies for years, many still don’t understand the real costs and problems,” said Richard S. Wellins, a senior vice president at DDI. “Some companies have taken steps to stem the loss of key employees, but few companies have done all they could”
We see a distinct contrast between companies that don’t seem to worry much about losing talented employees, and those that go out of their way to retain good employees.
The companies that work hard to retain good employees realize, for example, that when they lose a sales person they have lost a string of relationships – and that sales are based on relationships. Restoring relationships is time consuming and costly.
The companies that go out of their way understand the costs mentioned above – and inevitably are more successful.
