Last week, I asked what would be the most challenging situation for employers regarding EYT?
1- Risk of large loss of expert workforce and sudden departure from the company
2- Financial burden on lump sum payments due to severance pay.
The results of the survey responses were close to what I expected. If I were to talk about my personal evaluation; My perspective on events is that unless there is a special situation, it should always be preventive. I would like to express my thoughts from this point of view.
We cannot say that this issue is absolutely important in the options before us. Of course, priorities change depending on the dynamics of each company. For example, since EYT has been an issue that has been on the agenda for years, some companies have determined their employment policy accordingly, while others have not taken it into consideration. Therefore, priorities may change as a result of the policies followed and the decisions taken. I will expand on this subject a little more. However, his perspective on the issue distinguishes these two options from each other in terms of the long and short term.
The cost burden seems to be a problem in the short term, but friends in accounting and finance departments know very well; Provision for severance pay is an item that must be set aside in companies and finds its place in the financial statements. In fact, in companies reporting in accordance with IFRS standards, monthly reports are prepared to allocate provisions for annual leave and seniority issues, and the personnel department of the companies make calculations and submit them to accounting. In these calculations, we even make retirement calculations for the personnel in the company and make compensation payment probability calculations. Therefore, if we close the company today, it is a legal obligation not only to know the money we have to pay, but also to have its equivalent as collateral. As of now, I think there should be no problem in terms of cash load for companies doing this.
In the long term; The loss of qualified personnel will affect the service and production quality of companies. To elaborate on the issue in terms of the employment policy I mentioned above, it is not just about paying attention to whether the candidate is an EYT holder during recruitment. Here, in my opinion, career planning and employee engagement policies also gain importance. For example, there are those who did not resign just to avoid severance pay, and those who are forced to work because they do not have a guaranteed income even though they do not like their job or working conditions. These examples can be multiplied, but I think the solution to all these problems is 95% through correct career planning processes and policies that will protect employee loyalty. At the same time, even if you are running an excellent employee engagement operation, being ready to appoint employees with potential in their career maps instead of expert personnel who are likely to leave will wake you up from your nightmare. I’m sure that my brave and generous friends who say, “Brother Mehmet, I wish I could retire and get his new title” are currently waiting! Therefore, I think that companies that carry out career, loyalty and backup policies in a healthy way have solved this part of the problem. We have not implemented these two processes in our companies yet.
I can say this to my friends who ask “So what will we do?” Of course, personnel in this situation have begun to be identified and companies are developing strategies for their individual precautions. Convincing key personnel or granting them special privileges will be inevitable during this period. Meanwhile, it will not be easy to adjust the internal balances within the company. However, the two issues before us are not situations that can be solved easily from one day to the next. I think that the practices we give as examples by saying that no matter where we turn from the loss, it is profit, will be solved with the right decisions taken by the will of the management and with good planning. Despite everything, companies with solid credibility will somehow solve the severance burden. However, the loss of expert workforce will certainly be challenging and exhausting for companies that are not prepared.
We see that it is vital for a company to manage its Human Resources policies well in times like these. We last saw it in the pandemic. Not long after, the dynamics of working life revealed the importance of human resources policies again and again.
Özer Yılmaz
← Back to blog