Human resources management overview and concepts

Companies need to look at their employees as individuals whose ability to produce will ebb and flow over time. Underestimating the effects of human variation on the company's bottom line costs companies millions of dollars each year.

The article uses the example of employees who work in call centers. It is a given that all jobs involve some sort of learning curve, and also that some people will learn to perform their jobs productively faster than others. Companies must be aware of how long it takes a good employee to become highly productive. Not having this knowledge can be costly: suppose it takes a customer service representative six months to learn the job, but that employee leaves the company in seven months? In that case the company has only gotten peak performance from that employee for one month. If the employee leaves after five months, they never get the benefit of that employee's best, most profitable work. Experienced staff make fewer errors and put less stress on supervisory employees.

Companies at particular risk are those with a high learning curve when the employees have little incentive to stay with the company. Companies should collect data so they know the training costs for employees, the true cost and productivity for these employees. They need to know why productive employees leave the company. Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) can tailor the job search precisely for the company and reduce employee turnover. Research has identified specific factors that lead to rapid employee turnover, which include jobs that require a lot of training but that don't provide much opportunity for advancement, especially when accompanied by a long learning curve and long period (six months) before the employee is fully productive, accompanied by high turnover rate.