Most business owners will admit that one of the more costly portions of managing a business is training new employees. Turnover causes disruptions in the workflow, increased workloads for those who stay on the job and uses huge blocks of time screening and hiring replacements. When people leave an organization, it is a costly enterprise to replace them.
What makes one leave a job? Here are five reasons that research has shown cause people to leave. If keeping good people is important to you, why not assess your work environment to assure yourself that none of these factors exist within your company culture. An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of regret from losing a valuable employee.
People leave a job because they do not sense that they are growing professionally. Any worker worth their salt is in a constant state of learning. They appreciate and understand that information grows at a record pace in almost all businesses and not keeping up with information is a sure way to get behind the competition. Workers who seek promotions must be on the cutting edge of information. Ambitious individuals want to learn and when they sense learning opportunities are stifled, they will seek greener pastures.
Be a perpetual teacher. Help workers gain a little knowledge every day. Encourage training within your organization. Encourage initiatives that produce new information. That helps to maintain a competitive edge. There is always the risk that you train and they still leave. But, you can be assured that if you don’t train and help those who want to grow do so, they positively will leave.
People leave a job because they are not happy with the work they do. During my career in the chemical industry, I was moved to a Project Chemist position. It was a new position and I was pleased to get off shift work and return to a day job. Part of the job required doing repetitive testing. I soon realized that this was boring and certainly not a challenging effort. Had I not later been promoted to another job, I’m certain I would have eventually quit. I simply could not work at a rather mundane job.
What about your workers? Are they feeling bored and unchallenged? Maximize their skills and talents to job requirements and you greatly increase the potential for producing a happy worker.
People leave a job because they don’t feel important. Everyone appreciates being appreciated. Thank people for a job well done. Give them credit when they accomplish worthy things. Acknowledge the importance of employee contributions to the bottom line. Never take employees for granted. All these things bring a sense of importance to the work place.
People leave a job because they lack support to do their jobs well. I once did a survey of workers and “pride in their work” ranked as the number one reason why they came to work. These workers wanted to do a good job and when they did, there was a very strong source of personal pride.
To do a good job, one needs the proper tools. You can’t turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse. Likewise, you cannot produce 21st century results with 19th century equipment and tools. Provide resources. Provide encouragement. Provide an environment where good work can take place. Do all you can to help workers gain pride for their efforts and you will build a stable workforce.
Finally, people leave their jobs because they are not paid enough. Most would have ranked this as the first reason people leave a company. But, it is not. We must pay competitive salaries and provide competitive benefits. But pay is not the glue that keeps workers stuck to a job. Feeling good about a job, sensing that they are appreciated, having opportunities to learn new skills and support for doing their job well outrank pay in the minds of most workers. Good pay will hold people for a while. But, paying attention to these other factors works better. Where is your attention focused?
