Top Reasons for Leaving a Job – Why Good Employees Quit
Finding a highly skilled, hardworking and consistent employee to join your team can be a difficult task. Some companies find it just as challenging to decrease turnover rates of their best employees.
The reason an employee chooses to resign can vary widely. Some get married and move to another state. Others decide to start their own business. They might have a baby and decide to stay home or even win the lottery. Those are all based on circumstances that have more to do with their personal lives and less to do with the decisions made by their managers.
The other reasons good employees quit their jobs are often directly related to their employer. Poor management, lack of advancement opportunities, and the inability to maintain a work/life balance are some of the reasons given by good employees who choose to quit their jobs.
When you are dedicated to keeping the employees you manage satisfied and employed with your company, you must first develop a firm understanding of the top reasons why good employees leave their jobs.
Poor Management
Wendy Durante Duckrey, Vice President of recruiting at JPMorgan, is famously quoted as saying, “most people don’t quit their jobs; they quit their boss.”
It is also one of the top reasons good employees give for leaving a job.
When an employee feels supported, encouraged, and motivated by their superior, they will work harder for them, and remain more dedicated to their position.
If they feel their needs are not being met and their concerns are not being addressed, they are less likely to remain with the company, not due to the job itself, but due to management issues.
Unfortunately, there appears to be a lack of proper training for many who enter into managerial positions. It involves more than paperwork and tracking metrics. Managers must have strong people skills and the ability to develop relationships with those who work under them.
Otherwise, employers who struggle to manage their employees will continue to face the harsh reality that goes along with high turnover rates.
Feeling Undervalued
There’s nothing worse than going to work every day, doing your job to the best of your ability, being expected to go above and beyond your required tasks, and feeling underappreciated and undervalued by those at your job.
It is one of the fastest ways to decrease employee engagement and to lose a good employee.
You can make your employees feel valued in many ways including:
- Acknowledging their hard work publicly
- Providing them with a physical token of appreciation
- Offering incentives such as a half day off after reaching a big goal
- Buying them lunch
- Giving them a card expressing your appreciation
The ways in which you can make your employees feel valued are endless and can fit any budget your company has.
While all employees should be made to feel appreciated, it’s especially important to do this for employees who are continually working hard and taking on additional responsibilities beyond what they’ve been hired to do.
Lack of Advancement Opportunities
Most employees want to feel challenged in their career. Being in a job with no advancement opportunities, be it their position or a significant salary change, will often lead to the search for new employment, especially when they recognize their value as an employee.
It’s important to give employees an opportunity to stay with your company as they improve their skills and advance in their career.
You can do this by making new job opportunities known to employees within the company, so they have first dibs before bringing in outsiders.
Also, check in with your employees at minimum once per year to discuss their career goals. This will allow you to gain an understanding of how your employees are feeling regarding their current position and hopes for the future.
Also, offering educational opportunities and tuition reimbursement opportunities can provide your employee with a reason to remain with your company while gaining skills that can lead to advancement in the future.
Feeling Overworked
Today more than ever, the desire to have a career that still allows for flexibility, time with family and friends, and a healthy personal life is at the top of many employees’ list.
When employees are overworked, it reduces their ability to maintain a healthy a work/life balance.
It’s often found that good employees who show their ability to handle their job and take on additional responsibilities find the weight of their department placed on their shoulders. While it might be seen as a way to show your trust in the employee, it is actually a form of punishment. It shows that when an employee performs well, they are rewarded with additional work and no salary increase.
When you want to give an employee additional responsibilities, it should be a non-negotiable that a salary increase or position advancement comes along with those added responsibilities.
Keeping Good Employees
If your goal is to keep your good employees working with your company, it’s crucial that you stay abreast of their needs and wants career wise. In most situations, a highly skilled employee will be able to find another position, so you must consider what you need to do to keep them with your company.
Understand that you are working with people. People who have families. People who have personal lives. People with dreams, wishes, and goals. People with feelings.
When you keep that at the forefront of your mind, you will treat your employees like real people and your good employees will recognize your humanism and be more likely to stay around.
When you treat them like they’re disposable, they will dispose of their position and find another.
As you work to ensure your employees remain within your company, it’s also vital that you keep employee engagement high. It is one of the key factors to maintaining low turnover rates within a company.
If you’re searching for a resource that will help you maintain a workforce that is highly engaged, download a free copy of my book, 5 Tips to Improve Employee Engagement which features best practices for getting your employees involved in your company’s success.
About the Author Cindy Constable
Culture must be created, grown, and sustained by design over the long term. Cindy is a Culture Transformation Specialist for corporations. She uses a restorative process called A.I.R.R. to elevate your company culture and bring integration between your leadership, vision, culture, and team members to enhance overall performance.
