According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, about 4 million people quit their jobs in July. As surprising as this statistic may seem, it’s only an indicator of a larger trend. Most companies have trouble keeping top-performing employees, as they can often get more money elsewhere. And once they leave, morale sinks and productivity suffers.
The good news: there’s plenty of time to work on your employee retention strategy. Here are four obvious reasons why good employees leave and what you can do about it.
- Lack of Respect
If an employee doesn’t feel respected at work, he or she is more likely to quit. Whether they’re not getting respect from the boss or coworkers, these negative feelings can build up and eventually burst. There are plenty of ways employees can perceive this lack of respect, from the kind of work they get to the way they’re spoken to.
This is why having an open and honest relationship with your employees goes a long way. If you trust them to have the skills and responsibility to do the work they were hired to do, they’ll feel more comfortable and be more productive.
- Poor Management
There’s an old saying that states that people don’t leave bad jobs – they leave bad managers. If a manager can’t do their job competently, their lack of skills will impact the whole team. This is particularly true for hierarchies where a manager is protected by the leadership, which can create a toxic environment.
You can address this issue by investing in regular training for your management staff. You should also make yourself available to your senior staff for support in sensitive matters.
- No Room to Grow
Even if your employees feel respected and like their managers, they may still want to leave if they’re not satisfied with their careers. To prevent that, make sure your employees have access to various career advancement and educational opportunities. Find out if they’re getting the resources to take on different responsibilities or change their roles.
Keep in mind that some of your best individual performers won’t always be interested in managing people. Try to provide a different, non-managerial career path for them.
- Low Pay
Paying your employees the legal minimum will save you money in the short term, but it can also cause good employees to leave. Even if you think their salaries are fair, consider how it compares to the industry standard. If an employee feels they could get more money for the same amount of work elsewhere, don’t be surprised if they take that opportunity.
The solution is simple enough: think about how much you pay your employees. Increasing a salary will cost you, but maybe not as much as having to replace a top performer.