Upon submitting their resignations, employees will generally be asked by the company why they are leaving. A significant number of employees will respond that they found a “better opportunity.” This generic response is frequently given because it is a “safe” reason that will be acceptable to the employer.
In reality, employees may not tell the truth for two reasons: they feel that it is too late to change the circumstances that motivated them to resign in the first place, and secondly, they do not want to burn any bridges with the relationships at their former employer.
Contrary to common belief, salary and benefits are not the primary reasons that people choose to leave their organizations. The top two reasons that people quit their jobs are: 1) incompetent, difficult or unresponsive bosses, and 2) lack of career satisfaction or challenge. Organizations need to pay attention to these two areas to avoid the unnecessary loss of valuable talent.
Common management behaviors that contribute to persons leaving an organization include: inability to be proactive, unkept promises, unfair or inconsistent treatment of employees, not dealing with poor performers, managing by intimidation, blaming others; inability to make sound and timely decisions, compromising their integrity or asking employees to do so. All of these and other undesirable management behaviors add up to a larger issue: lack of trust in the company’s leadership.
The second major reason why people leave their organizations is lack of career development or opportunities to grow and be challenged. Once a person has mastered a particular area of knowledge, companies tend to want to keep them in that role to utilize their knowledge for as long as possible.
But where the company might be at risk of losing this employee is when the person clearly no longer wants to be in that role, or has a need to change which is not acknowledged and supported by the employer. The person may attempt to convey this need to their management or human resources department, but all too frequently it is ignored or falls upon deaf ears.
When this need is not responded to in a reasonable amount of time, the employee will likely seek challenge elsewhere, even though they may have preferred to stay with their present company. Businesses need to be aware of career development needs of their employees, and appropriately address them rather than risk losing these valuable business assets.
Other ways that employees feel that their career issues are not being met include: not aligning roles and projects with their strengths and interests; not getting regular and helpful feedback about their performance; not having funds available to support their continued learning and skill development; feeling that their job is “dead-ended,” and being repeatedly overlooked for promotional opportunities and not being told why.
To uncover the true reasons for turnover, employers might consider outside assistance. Employees or former employees will tend to be more honest when they can respond safely and anonymously to an objective third party. When this is done, a company is more likely to capture the right kind of information which can assist them in evaluating their organization and supporting their employee retention efforts.
