Why Do the Good Ones Leave?

“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader. A great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” Eleanor Roosevelt.

While it is true (according to recent data) that many employees today stay an average of five years or more, it is also true that many companies face high turnover rates. Here are some of the top reasons why good employees leave—and what you can do about it!

Lack of autonomy and trust:

Leaders who struggle with trusting their employees end up creating restrictive work environments that leave employees feeling stressed, anxious, and unable to do their best work. Good employees don’t want to work in a job where the higher echelons of the company do not trust them. If you’re going to attract and keep great employees, start at the top—with yourself! Develop trust and a more macro-management style when it comes to how you work with your staff. Your job as the leader is to trust and guide your team, to support them in their roles and let them shine. When you learn to let go and trust your teams, they will deliver at levels you never imagined. You’ll not only attract but keep better employees who are motivated, enthusiastic and produce great results.

Lack of recognition:

It’s one thing to give employees the room they need to breathe and grow, but all that hard work they put in also needs to be appreciated. Lack of appreciation can come in many forms, including being underpaid, not receiving positive feedback, broken promises–especially those around end-of-year bonuses, valid complaints that are shrugged off, and reasonable change suggestions that go ignored. When leadership makes these mistakes, the environment in an otherwise healthy company can start to feel toxic and encourage a mass exodus of top-notch employees that are difficult to replace.

Respect is a must:

Employees may leave for several reasons (some of which may have nothing to do with a work environment). However, most employees might have something that pushes that decision over the edge, and respect is one of them. Respect could mean how they’re treated by managers and coworkers, or the types of assignments and projects they receive to work on (or lack thereof). When people say they left a job because they weren’t paid enough, it usually means the company didn’t respect their work and abilities enough to compensate them appropriately. Again…it’s all about respect. If an employee’s skills aren’t respected enough to receive appropriate compensation or be given projects that challenge and utilize their abilities, they will leave. If others mistreat them within the company, it’s because of a lack of respect. People don’t leave good jobs without reason, and many times it has everything to do with the way they are treated or ignored within the company. This can be easily rectified.

They’ve hit the ceiling:

One of the most significant driving forces for employees leaving is a lack of growth or development opportunities. If an employee—especially the good ones, have nowhere else to go within the company, they will start to get bored with the work they are doing. Most employees aren’t content with plateauing; they want to grow and expand their role into something more challenging or more rewarding. Give them reasons to stay; inspire their dreams of more prominent achievements, management opportunities, and financial success.

Have employee retention issues? PrideStaff Financial can help!

PrideStaff Financial has consistently won awards for exceptional client satisfaction. Our highly skilled staffing consultants can help support your business needs during these difficult times. Contact us today to learn more.