Poaching Employees

Rockie · August 2003

One of our medical offices is in a small town and we have had a mess lately. We employed a female physician and she needed assistance in the office. We employed a male physician and she took an instant dislike to him. The upshot is she left our practice and went to a competitor. She has been so vindictive towards this physician that he is now leaving the area. We are attempting to keep our office in this town open because we don't want to abandon the patients that we have.

Our big problem is this person is attempting to poach our employees by offering them exhorbidant (sp) salaries. One nurse is being offered $10,000 more/year to go with this practice. It's beyond me how they can afford to do this and this is not the only person they have offered excessive salaries to. I have researched the salaries in this area and it appears they are paying huge sums to lure people to their practice.

Anyway....the issue is...how do you guys handle this type of thing? Would you just let the employee go with your blessings? Or would you try to counter at all...even though the pay is way out of whack? I suspect these employees are being offered this type of salary at the expense of the other employees in the competing practice.

I am always of the opinion if you intentionally go out of your way to harm other people that it will come back to "bite" you and I am sure this will be the case here. I hate to see good individuals lured away simply by money into a bad situation, but if this is what's important to them, I guess they will make their own bed.

Sorry to be long winded, but this is a maddening situation!

mamhradm · August 2003

It has been my experience that counter-offers rarely work out for the best. I'm not sure I would bless them as they left, but, your next issue would be - under what circumstances would you accept them back.

ray a · August 2003

What about other intangibles such as work atmosphere? Do you offer somthing the other facility does not have? Are you doing things for your employees that will make them say "the money isn't worth it, I'd rather stay here - I love my job". Things like recognition. Are your benefits better than at the other place?

I agree counteroffers are not the way to go. Come up with something else that will help you hang on to your people. Money isn't everything.

Judith · August 2003

If the "poached" employees are valuable to your business you may want to sit down and have an open discussion with them before accepting their resignation: Does the employee know the salary is "out of whack" and has the employee thought about why they have that offer? I agree with the others that say under what circumstances would you have them back -- common sense would say at some point that practice will not be able to keep up with the salaries and then what?? You may even have a neutral party for the employee to discuss the pros and cons with (maybe a job seeker's support group, employment counselor, etc). the purpose of the extra mile is to show the employee (the one being poached and the ones staying) that you really care about them as an individual. Good luck - do you have non-compete and non-solicitation agreements with your professional staff? You may want to consider this for the future but be careful because they have their own pitfalls.

cebudragonlady · August 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-06-03 AT 08:53AM (CST)[/font][p]A thought , if the salaries are so out of whack - I wonder about the
long term...if all the poached employees go and take the extra money, will that other office still be in business next year ?

Emphasize to your employees the long-term viability of your practice, and the friendships that already exist. Good luck!

Chari

Don D · August 2003

It is the nature of business to try to run others out of business. I remember when gas was 40 something cents a gallon and one station would lower the price to 35 or 32 and first thing we knew it turned into a full-blown gas war among 3, 4....5 stations. Folks would drive for miles and miles just to fill up at the cheapest station and most of the stations, in desparate, knee-jerk reaction, would try to match the lower price but one lone holdout station would bite the bullet and hang on, through some slim times, until it ended and everybody went back up. The one that held out had cleaner restrooms, a fancy tin box full of wiper blades, a faster guy like Goober to clean windshields and pump gas, broom-swept concrete, colder drink boxes, a nice shirt and tie on the owner, shiney tile floors inside and a mechanic with a full set of teeth, all of which translated to REPUTATION AND SERVICE. This is where you find yourself today.

Parabeagle1 · August 2003

The offer/counteroffer negotiations used to be (maybe still are) common practice among law firm staff. I have counteroffered in three cases to keep a valuable employee. In each case, the employee stayed on less than another year. I don't know if that's the case in other industries, but I decided to stop counteroffering and just offer my blessings instead whenever an employee gave notice that they were going somewhere for "more money."

ritaanz · August 2003

Most employees can not see beyond their nose. They see the $$$ and off they go. At this time, I think you should meet with all of your people and explain the economics involved. Not many employees think about next year or in 6 months when there is a great possibility they will be unemployed.

I saw it happening in our industry as well. Our trained employees would hear about a job opening at Motorola, Intel, Honeywell, etc. paying twice what we were paying. There was no way we could counteroffer. Off they went. Today, as you all know, these companies have had tremendous layoffs. I have had quite a few of these ex-employees (now unemployed 12 to 18 months)come in or call and see if we would re-hire them. In the conversations I had with them, ALL of them felt that they had made the RIGHT deceision to leave stating the additional income, the training and the experience were worth it. Is this their way of saving face or just being in denial???

mwild31 · August 2003

Hi Rockie

This is a tough situation. What is the job market like in your area, i.e. are there talented trained professionals looking for a job or is there a 'drought of talent'? Knowing this could help you to make your decision.

I'm not a big fan of counter-offers and I agree with one of the posts that the employee does not stay long after the counter offer. I've had that happen and I also had a situation where we offered a counter offer and it was accepted and the employee stayed for another 2 years. However, within days of accepting the counter offer, all of the employee's co-workers were in my office and asking for more money. It's best to avoid counter-offers at all cost - especially if you know what the local scene is offering in the form of compensation and benefits and yours matches what else is out there. Look into recruiting via the web, agencies, newspapers and local job fairs - the cost of which is relatively small when compared to offering someone $10k more per year to stay - plus all of the potential headaches that will go with it.

Balloonman · August 2003

I will quote a friend, who accepted a counter offer, for about $7K more than they were making: Laughter "He thinks I am going to stay, this just means I will be able to get more when I find the right opportunity!"

Lots of good advice. I would talk honestly with the employees being courted, also would say make sure they leave the right way so they are eligible to come back. It may not take long for them to realize the grass is always greener.

My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

ray a · August 2003

I read an article during lunch that is apropos. It is about compensation philosophy. The writer states compensation is made up of many components, they include:

All monetary rewards - base salary, incentives, premium pay, etc

Benefits, perks, and noncash recognition

Career advancement, training, personal growth

Content of work - variety, challenge, autonomy, meaningfulness, feedback

Affiliation - sense of belonging to a respected organization, work environment, title, commitment to team

Are you addressing all of these areas?

mbeam · August 2003

The other thing you may want to do is keep the door open and let those valuable associates know if they decide to make the move that you are open to talking to them should they find the grass isn't greener elsewhere.

Margaret Morford · August 2003

I agree with Ceburagonlady and Ritaanz. I would emphasize the stabilty of a larger, well established pratice. $10,000 is a lot of money, but not if you only collect it for six months. Emphasize starting all over again for vesting and vacation purposes, etc. See how your benefits stack up. If yours are better, emphasize that.

I also agree with the person above. Part on good terms with those you'd like to have back and tell them you'd be glad to have them back. However, I would add these words "if we have a job opening when you want to return." They need to understand that you are not their safety net if this doesn't work out. Otherwise, why not leave you and see how it goes. I would also keep track of those you'd like to have back and call them about 45 days into their new job and see how it's going. Tell them you have a spot for them (if you do) to open the door for them to come back. Bring them back at what they were making when they left or what you are currently paying for the job. Offer to restore their previous service if they haven't been gone long. Do not give them a raise to return. The message that sends will cause everyone to look for a new job.

No one has raised this issue, but I would consult an attorney about writing the physician a letter to cease and desist recruiting your employees. I think minimally she has a "fiduciary duty" to your company which she may be violating. In addition, her behavior indicates that she is trying to put you out of business - paying wages way over market is a strong indicator. That is restraint of trade and carries severe penelties under the law. I wouldn't just roll over and let her do this without addressing it in some way.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

Nrdgrrl · August 2003

When I still worked in a retail environment, I had 4 commissioned associates poached while I was on a one week vacation. They offered a higher base salary, but apparently somewhere in the discussion it was lost that they would get bumped down $$$ if they didn’t meet their high sales goals.

Two came back in 4 months, one quit to go to school, the forth went to our sister store.

Grass isn’t always greener…

Richard S · August 2003

I have never liked the idea of counteroffers when another employer is involved. It is one thing if an employee comes to you and asks for a raise and an honest negotiation begains, but not like this. The questions i would ask myself is:
1. Can you trust this person again. Loyality does not mean anything to them.
2. If you can't trust them again. Are they bluffing you. Do they really have an offer or are they just saying that to get a raise.
I have found that people who do not get a counteroffer may say they got that much to prove to you that you really lost someone great (thier minds idea not mine).

Just some thoughts
Richards
Ks

Poaching Employees

Comments