Reasons why your best people will leave you

Employees Quitting

It is an undeniable fact that few things in business are as costly and disruptive as unexpected talent departures. With all the emphasis on leadership development, it is interesting to find out that so many companies (especially small businesses) seem to struggle with being able to retain their top talent.

So the question remains, why do the most talented and productive people flee a given workplace? On our blog today, I will share with you some reasons why your best people will quit:

1.    Failing to recognize outstanding performance and contributions

They say the best leaders don’t take credit – they give it. Failing to recognize the contributions and excellent performance of your employees is not only arrogant and disingenuous, but it’s as also just as good as asking them to leave. After all, remember Psychology 101: Behaviour you want repeated should be rewarded immediately. Checkout Getting your talent to work for you

2.    Having restrictive rules 

Every workplace should have rules no doubt. But let’s accept it,  some rules at the workplace are plain dumb. What organisations fail to grasp is that great employees want to have guidelines and direction but that’s what most companies would rather not do.

Most employees you talk to will let you in on the fact that they don’t want to have rules that get in the way of doing their jobs or that conflict with the values of the company.

3.    Not making the work environment an exciting place

The workplace should be fun. One other reason why employees will leave your company is if they find the working environment a boring place to be. If the work environment isn’t more relaxed and fun, you will have unhappy employees who don’t look forward to coming to work each day. Read more here

4.    Poor communication

Employers need to communicate not only the good, but also the bad and the ugly information. If you don’t tell them, the rumour mill will. Failing to communicate information when there is the need to can be injurious to the atmosphere at workplace and affect creativity and productivity.

Furthermore, failing to give employees a voice can also breed a culture of silence at the workplace; which could lead to negative energies being channeled across employees. Talented employees have good thoughts, ideas, insights, and observations. If you don’t listen to them, the only guarantee is that someone else will.

5.     Micromanaging Employees

Employees detest micro-managers. Yes they do and that’s the truth. What most employers do is not asking for inputs from employees on how things could be done. The trend has always been to “nag” why they want things done and how they want it done. Conversely what needs to be done is telling them why things need to be done and why their job is important.

6.    Failing to keep commitments to employees

It is often said that promises made are worthless, but promises kept are invaluable. Employees are no different. The truth is that if you break trust with those you lead you will pay a very steep price. Companies that fail to keep to their commitments end up losing the trust and services of their best talents to their competition.

7.     The absence of a skills development regime

Learning isn’t a destination – it’s a continuum. No matter how smart or talented your employees are, there’s always room for growth, development, and continued maturation. If you fail to give them the opportunities to develop themselves, trust them to seek it elsewhere. The fact is that there is a correlation between companies which place restrictions on a person’s ability to grow/develop and the rate of attrition.

WRITTEN BY
Jide Otoki
Notification Bell