What does âtour of dutyâ employment mean for HR?
Thereâs been a lot published over the last week on âtour of dutyâ employment. The noise is coming from the publication of a new book by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh called The Alliance.
So, what does a tour of duty means in the context of the employment relationship?
The crux of the idea is that the employment relationship today is broken. Companies demand employee loyalty without guaranteeing job security. At the same time, employees promise loyalty but are quick to move if offered a better role or pay-rise. Everyone says the right things. But nobody is making promises they intend to keep.
A tour of duty moves the relationship from a transactional relationship to a mutually beneficial alliance. As Hoffman puts it: âEmployment should be an alliance. [That means] a mutually beneficial deal, with explicit terms, between independent playersâ
Whatâs important here is the acceptance that the employee and employer don’t have the same agenda. Neither party is pretending to make a lifetime commitment. Instead, both set out about what they expect the other party to deliver over the next 2, 3 or 4 years. Thereâs plenty of examples of how Reid has successfully used the approach at LinkedIn. See this Wall Street Journal interview and in the original idea-piece in HBR.
So without further ado, letâs talk about what tour of duty employment might mean for HR.
Expect a two-way focus on performance management
Performance management becomes a two-way conversation with serious consequences for both parties.
The employee has always been responsible for hitting KPIs. But now the company is also responsible for delivering promised development. Examples include mentoring, a leadership course, or an offshore posting with increased responsibility.
In a tour of duty world, performance management has to hold both the employee and the employer accountable. Itâs no longer just a one-way conversation.
Now, a failure to deliver great performance management is a breech of contract by the employer. Youâre assessing the employee on their performance. But theyâre also assessing whether youâre advancing their career as promised. Itâs no longer a one-way conversation. Stop for a second and let that sink in.
Clear objectives are (still) critical
Both employee and employer are signing on with a specific outcome or mission in mind. So itâs critical to make sure this mission is clear.
Nothing will doom a tour of duty employment relationship faster than a mission thatâs subject to misinterpretation. And that runs both ways. Both the employee and the employer need to be able to state what the other party is getting out of the relationship.
Again, SMART goals and objectives are performance management 101. But in this environment the consequences are significant. Misalignment or plain old laziness will all lead to quick turnover.
You have the ability to increase retention of specialist employees
One of the common misconceptions in that a tour of duty approach will reduce the tenure of employment. With one caveat below, I donât think thatâs the case.
Thereâs a good analogy in an emotional relationship. Through having hard conversations, we can fix issues at an earlier stage. We continue to recommit if itâs working. And we donât hold onto the illusion of staying together if the relationship is broken and weâre not BOTH achieving what we set out to.
For knowledge workers in specialist positions, thereâs always the opportunity to âcheatâ on their employer. Recruiters call regularly. Employees know the options and opportunities.
Tours of duty make clear that youâre just as invested in their growth as they are. And thatâs a really meaningful differentiator.
But poor execution creates turnover risk
If you do this badly, youâre going to significantly increase your workforce turnover. Itâs the equivalent of reminding employees just how little theyâre getting out of their job. Picture this conversation:
âHi Bob, remember how we promised you all these things about how great this opportunity would be for your development and career? Well we actually didnât deliver on any of our promises… Now how did you go with your KPIs?â
So hereâs my recommendations to you
If youâre already best practice in performance management then this is something you need to be thinking about. Talent supply and generational trends mean you wonât have a choice. Your competitors will start making these kind of commitments. And they will be a real differentiator for employer brand. Gen Y loves the authenticity of âyou donât have a job for life but weâll make sure you get as much out of this as we doâ.
If your company does tours-of-duty well, the approach will help you retain your best employees for longer. It will help you do this at a lower cost. And it will make clear which managers are delivering great employee development.
Finally, a word of warning! If youâre just starting on your performance management journey then you need to get your house in order first (as Josh Bersin shows nicely here). Start with the basics. That means clear expectations and regular, documented conversations.
To extend the military analogy â you canât go to war until youâve trained the troops.
Photo credit: MONUSCO (Used under Creative Commons SA 2.0 licence)