A Measurement Scale of Pre-quitting Behaviors | People + Strategy Journal

In a post last week, I mentioned that employee retention continues to be a top concern of many leaders. In that post, I shared a template by Jo-Ann Garbutt that includes 18 questions managers can use to raise their awareness of the factors that influence employee retention risk. A few sample questions include: 1) Do I invite and encourage contrary views to my ideas from this person? 2) Do I understand why this employee has chosen to work here and not at another company? 3) Do I understand if the working environment fits well with this employee’s personal and career needs? To supplement the questions in that template, this article includes a Cues of Turnover Scale (CoTS) reference–a 13-item survey where managers indicate the extent to which they have observed certain retention risk behaviors of an employee during the last 2 to 3 months. Using a five-point rating scale (from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree), managers rate employees’ on behavioral statements such as 1) Their work productivity has decreased more than usual, 2) They have acted less like a team player than usual. 3) They have expressed dissatisfaction with their current job more frequently than usual. As a benchmark, employees with average scores of 4.2 or higher have a risk of turnover more than two times the typical employee. Even if managers don’t complete the assessment, the statements bring awareness to the behaviors that often precede an employee’s decision to leave an organization.