6 Red Flags an Organization May Be Dysfunctional

In today’s job market, a highly competitive war for talent is waging. Finding the right fit is more important than ever for both employers and candidates as the cost of a bad hire is high for all parties involved.  As a candidate, how do you know what to look for when you are vetting and interviewing companies? What red flags should you pay attention to when they start waving at you? I’ve compiled the following list of red flags from talking with others about the employers they happily worked for and employers they quickly left. The following items were a constant:

·     Management throws money at people for a desired result. Companies may do this when they are trying to poach a star performer who is very happy at a competitor, or may also do this to prevent any employee (even the mediocre ones) from going to a competitor. This is a red flag when it happens early in the recruiting process, before there has been any type of courtship and is always a red flag in a counter offer situation as its extremely reactive. If a company really wants to attract star talent or avoid employees leaving for a competitor, there are healthier ways of doing so, such as following a thorough recruiting process and conducting stay interviews.

·     Strategic planning is not valued and no one knows what the strategic plan is.   If at least two members of the leadership team cannot clearly, concisely, and consistently state the vision, mission, and goals of the organization to you, run for the hills! Why? The bus is not really going anywhere, but it will be taking you for a ride for sure, and not a fun one.

·     The executive team is not aligned with the CEO. If the CEO micromanages his/her team and the team in turn doesn’t know what direction to go in, a lot of money, time, and effort is wasted. One of my favorite Steve Jobs quotes is, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” In other words, get out of the way, and let people do the job you hired them to do. 

·     “Cover your butt” mentality is an ingrained part of the culture and making mistakes is a “no-no”. I’ll never forget a story that was relayed to me of a CFO frantically calling one of his direct reports to kill a new project. What stood out was it wasn’t a cost or resource issue but rather the CFO didn’t want to take a risk in presenting to the CEO. He truly thought he would lose his job for presenting A PROPOSAL to the CEO. If one of the top executives is afraid to take a risk, do you really want to work for that organization?

·     Employees with low integrity are allowed to throw others under the bus and stab them in the back without any repercussions. When bad behavior is allowed to continue and employees aren’t held accountable, this slowly poisons the work environment and culture, and morale definitely suffers. The termination and progressive discipline processes need to be followed and can take time, however managers aren’t off the hook in making decisions. Managers in avoidance mode really aren’t managers.

·     Employee surveys are viewed as a waste of money.  This is pretty simple and clear-cut because if an organization doesn’t take the time to do occasional surveys (which are very easy to do by the way) they really don’t care what employees think. And if that’s the case, do you really want to work there?

How do you find out if any of these red flags exist in a prospective employer? One way is to talk with current employees who can give you the inside scoop on what the organization is really like. Hopefully the organization has been honestly portraying itself to the outside world and the information you glean will match what they have been telling you. If not, flee the scene as quickly as possible and move on to your next prospect. 

What if you find your current employer has one or more of these red flags, and as each day passes your desire to go to work diminishes? It may be time to seriously reflect on your next actions, which may include developing an exit strategy. 

For help in navigating today’s job market, vetting potential employers, improving your current performance, or forming an exit strategy/transition, message Christine Kidder on LinkedIn.

Christine Kidder, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is an HR Coach and Advisor with over 20 years of recruiting, talent retention, and employee relations experience. She enjoys working with individuals and small employers to demystify HR and make goals a reality. Being invaluable to and supporting others in this pursuit is Christine’s passion. You can see her LinkedIn Profile at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/christinekidder/.