When a flattering job offer from a company trying hard to impress leaves you starry-eyed, it's easy to overlook the drawbacks. Only later do you discover that the cubicles are tiny, the people are weird--and the coffee stinks.
Most people starting new jobs have great expectations, says M. Ronald Buckley, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Oklahoma, and that can be bad. The solution: realistic job previews (RJPs) and expectation-lowering procedures (ELPs). Both aim to expose the mundane reality of the workplace, explains Buckley, but while RJPs answer specific questions, like "Is the office noisy?" or "How's the pay?" ELPs discuss realistic goals for employees. "When you work in a factory," he says, "your chances of becoming CEO are slim."
When Buckley used RJPs and ELPs on new assembly-line workers, they reported lower expectations than those who received only an orientation extolling the company's virtues. They were also most likely to stay on the job. After six months, workers who'd attended RJPs or ELPs had a much lower attrition rate and reported being happier than others.
