Compuwave, Inc. is all about employee development. They offer generous allowances for tuition reimbursement and other educational expenses. Compuwave’s Programming/Software Development department also has its own set of training courses, and pays 100% for trainings and certification exams for its employees. Obviously, all these programs are expected to make the employee more valuable to the department and the company. Recently a problem has come up: Zeb, a very strong programmer for whom management had high hopes, just quit. Zeb found that the extensive training and development, including completing his MBA in Computer Information Systems (which Compuwave paid for) has resulted in making him very marketable to other companies. In his exit interview, Zeb said he is going to a competitor where he can make more money in a position of more responsibility. He said he was happy at Compuwave but he was told that there were no promotions currently available and he feels there was not much opportunity for advancement. Zeb’s manager is predictably upset. This will set projects Zeb was working on back several months, they’ll have to hire someone to replace Zeb, not to mention all the money and resources spent on developing him. Worst of all, the manager is afraid this is the beginning of a trend, and he fears losing more employees who are being “developed out the door.”
Respond to the following:
As an HRM Consultant to Compuwave, what would you suggest to help retain Zeb and similar employees?
What changes, if any, would you recommend to Compuwave’s development programs?