It’s important for business leaders to understand why employees leave their jobs. This gives you the ability to adjust to marketplace conditions or make some internal changes. If you can uncover the trends, then you can make adjustments.
Recently, on LinkedIn, I conducted a poll on the topic of people leaving their jobs:
What was the BIG reason you left one job, for one with a different organization?
- Money, money money: 30%
- Better work culture fit: 41%
- Closer to home/work from home: 4%
- Professional growth: 26%
While this is an unscientific survey, it does give us some insight for the marketplace. Let’s further examine the choices.
The Money Issue
It’s understandable that a lot of people leave a job for more money. Take a moment to consider if your pay rates are competitive. Consider making adjustments if possible.
Also keep in mind what employees pay for benefits. For instance, smaller organizations may pay more for health care, then larger firms. This reduces an employee’s take home pay.
On the other hand, if you have great benefits that cost employees very little, then that should be a point you’re stressing to your team.
Ultimately, you want to keep the money issue in mind but realize that you will likely lose out to a business with deeper pockets. Trying to keep up with the competition may not make financial sense.
The Work Culture Fit
The top response from the poll gives hope to those who can’t pay more. You can have two businesses, where salaries and responsibilities are the same and yet, one gets the edge over the other, due to work culture.
A good work culture can be hard to define but often it includes these elements:
- Good teamwork and communication between levels of the organization
- Schedule flexibility that allows parents to spend important moments with their kids
- Company volunteering projects that benefit a cause
- Perks that celebrate success
- Employee communication that does not extend into off-hours
While you can’t change work culture overnight, you should understand the role it plays in why employees leave their jobs. Feel overwhelmed with making changes? Consider creating committees where people can come up with engaging ideas that add value, without creating business disruption.
Where People Work
Commuting or working from home did not appear to be a major issues in the survey. It is possible policies have already been created and people are happy with them.
It will be interesting to see if problems emerge in those businesses that now need employees to return to the office, on an increased basis.
For leaders, it may be smart to consider if you need to re-imagine the workplace experience, as a way to make it more welcoming to those who enjoy working from home. An example of this might include allowing employees to wear jeans or have casual days, during those times when their work is behind the scenes.
Do Employees Leave Their Jobs Because of Boredom?
Professional growth could involve a promotion or learning some new skills in an existing position. Do people feel like they can grow in their jobs? Or is the job you have, going to be the job you’ll have forever?
If there is a potential path to improvement or promotion, then make sure people are aware of it. Don’t keep attractive features a secret.
For those jobs that might be described as, “dead-end,” think about whether they are an important stepping stone for advancement somewhere else. This could be an attractive trend for some.
You could say something like, “If you work hard here for several years, then you’ll easily be able to succeed at the next level, somewhere else.”
While this strategy acknowledges the position may not be a lifetime occupation, you set up the understanding that a high performance, at your business, could pay off down the road. Sometimes it’s better to have a shooting star than a dim light bulb.
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