Staff Exodus

Adult Staff
21

I think this is key… slow processing of leavers or people simply not turning up but not being declared as gone.

Also a significant reduction in people volunteering as many hours or for more responsible roles. Preferring to avoid the paperwork burden.

5 Likes
22

Unlike cadets, it costs nothing to a sqn running a minimal staff trying to game the system against glancing scrutiny…

23

I refused to do the paperwork to dismiss a CI who had left years ago, the reason, she hadn’t signed the volunteer agreement so HQAC said they would throw her out and never did. :rofl:

2 Likes
24

There are two staff on my unit that, while listed as NEP, haven’t been seen since before Covid and will not be seen again. We’ve told Wing this countless times, but they will not be removed.

25

Depends what NEP they are - if it’s NEP voluntarily then it’s a deferred resignation and they automatically leave after 12 months. However, if its the worse kind, ie NEP Suspended, they remain on the books until the eventual outcome of the investigation, court case etc. That may take years.

26

And this morning another OC post being advertised in a neighbouring wing. I think that makes five OC posts in the past 2 weeks.

1 Like
27

It would be interesting to see if there are any tracked metrics which would help identify a problem. The cynic in me says there probably aren’t, but I may well be doing someone a disservice.

Rate of resignation / transfer to NEP stratified by CFAV category (Officer, SNCO, CI) would be the simplest one - per month would seem reasonable.

A spike in that would identify something’s wrong, assuming that the resignations are processed routinely and regularly.

1 Like
28

The problem with that is the length of time taken to action any resignation/transfer would skew the results

2 Likes
29

Yes, it does assume a level of regularity of processing as I say.

30

Both voluntary. Both well over 12 months. Still on the system.

Will the system count NEP staff as staff in the overall numbers…?

31

Maybe at Wg, Rg and HQ level!

1 Like
32

Yep.
A nearby Sqn supposedly has 21 staff “on the books”.
Yet each week, out goes the ask for staff support as they only have 1 available.
Same 1 each time.

Wing aware.
Nothing happeneing.

That’s just 1 sqn.
Multiply it across the corps…

2 Likes
33

Or if exit interviews are performed in a consistent format where reasons could be analysed for trends?

2 Likes
34

Never going to happen.

People in my long experience leave under the following curcumstances…

  1. Death. No interview.
  2. Stormed out in a strop. No interview.
  3. Long term illness. No interview.
  4. Retirement due old age. Interview possible, but pointless.
  5. Leaving due family or work or life, interview possible, but by this point, its almost always, thanks, bye, zoooooooom gone.
  6. Most common. Just dissapears into the ether. Cant be contacted. No interview.

…im probably missing a few examples. But point is, very few ‘exit scenarios’, permit an exit interview in this org.
Or indeed many volunteer orgs.

Brings to a secondary point.
We must stop trying to apply ‘full time, paid work’ processes or scenarios to us as volunteers. Just doesnt work, in the main.
Either that or pay me!

4 Likes
35

My company sends out an exit survey to all leavers.

We’re retail (and a few other things) so have a relatively high turnover.

Our response rate hovers around 10/11%. Very hard to make conclusions from this.

36

Those are all fine examples but when I left other volunteering in the past there has been a short chat about why I decided to move on.

  1. if informed note it
    2, 3 & 6 have reason of ‘no response/disengaged’ reported
    4 & 5 should again be straightforward to capture.

Most volunteers I have worked with have actually had the coutesy to let the organisation know they are not going to be helping it any more and I wouldn’t consider it an employed process in this instance just re use of the term.

2 Likes
37

Getting people to sign the simple form, name number signature and one sentence for reason of resignation, then return of kit and ID is the difficult part. They are good at writing an e-mail saying how sorry they are, but don’t follow up with the necessities to have them removed from the system.

1 Like
38

And that is the frustration for me. An ex-CI resigned after lockdown because of the admin, sent me an email confirming it. I send to wing, the reply is “sorry, they need to complete this form”. It is beautiful irony.

MOD forms and processes are stupid in the main for us as an organisation. What on earth is wrong with someone emailing and saying “sorry, I’m off, bye”?

12 Likes
39

I joined my unit in 2015, last month wing relinquished one of our CIs on the books, finally acceding to requests from my OC over the years to have them removed. I have never met them.

3 Likes
40

2 CIs who have left since May have been discharged on SMS. 1 CI who left before Christmas is still on there :man_shrugging:

1 Like