This employee retention speaker and employee retention expert tells audiences I speak to that there are three main reasons that people quit their jobs. It’s rather simple but often complex when you scratch the surface. The three main reason people quit are their boss, their co-workers or the culture of the organization. When any of these are missing, you will see people quitting. This employee recruitment expert wants to explore each of these factors.
- Their Boss. 75 % of the people in this country say the worst thing about their job is their boss. Have you ever worked for a bad boss? Your boss can simply make your life miserable. A couple or the big things bosses do that drive people away are micromanaging, failing to listen to their people, disrespecting their people either intentionally or unintentionally, throwing people under the bus, and not showing appreciation for contributions. The main reason this goes on is failing to train your leaders or tolerating behaviors like those above and not doing anything about it. If you address issues with bad bosses, you will see significant improvement in your employee retention. Working to make bosses better should be part of your employee retention strategy.
- Their Co-workers. This employee retention consultant has seen teams with people who gossip, back bite, won’t pitch in or exclude people they work with from being part of the team. These are issues that can be addressed through counseling, training or firing people who will not work as a team. I’ve seen organizations hire people that are simply not a good fit and then ignore that and let the poor behavior continue. The leaders in the organization need to address these types of issues promptly.
- The Culture. Unfortunately, many cultures are dysfunctional. This employee retention author has seen this all too often. The HR Leader wants to bring me in, employee turnover is high, and the business could be doing much better but the culture is dictated from the top. The sad fact is many Sr. Leaders don’t get. There are no value systems or if there are, they may not be followed. Then people get discouraged and quit even if they like the team and their boss. Or the culture is dysfunctional and no matter how much the boss tries to buffer their team, eventually they can’t. Another scenario is the boss is dysfunctional because the culture encourages it. That is a recipe for disaster!
When you are looking at your employee retention strategies, look at these three elements. If one or more are not functional, you will experience employee turnover. If you find dysfunction in any or them, you will know why your people are quitting.
Is your organization desperate to retain people? If you are an HR Leader, General Manager or an owner of an organization, call me of email me at jeff@jeffkortes.com to learn how the C.R.A.P, (Caring, Respect, Appreciation, Praise) process can reduce your employee turnover by 40-80%.
