The concept of 'slippery feet' refers to the tendency for some employees not to be stable on the job. Such employees are normally on the lookout for the next best paid job and conditions of service and will be on the move even though their existing job pays comparatively well and provides adequate job satisfaction.
'Slippery feet' has considerable negative effects on an organization. Normally, recruitment costs and also the time lost in a search for replacement as well as resources to be used in training newly recruited staff are quite high. With a problem of slippery feet the company will have to incur these additional costs for as long as the condition persist. The employee who practices slippery feet will normally benefit from company resources in the form of time and resources used to train him as well as experience and company contacts gained but fail to return this investment in him back to the Company.
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04-02366 Donald W. Douglas and David R. Davis who ...
Harvard Management CompanyIn addition, it disrupts and slows down company's scheduled programmes and has negative effect on the morale of existing staff, key customers and financiers. Another aspect of loss to the Company is likely exposure of corporate knowledge systems and proprietary information to competitors.
One major cause of slippery feet is poor recruitment and selection processes adopted by a Company. Where the Company is unable to put in place a system that correctly describes the job and specify the type of person that should do the job, it is more likely that an incumbent will find the job unsuitable and hence will tend to leave soon after assumption of duty. Other times the company, during recruitment, fails to reveal the difficulties and distastes of the job to the prospective jobholder. Also failure to match remuneration and other benefits to the requirements of the...