Simple Ways to Improve Employee Retention
Top Reasons People Quit Their Jobs- and How To Avoid Them
Oct 12, 2009
Employee retention has become such an important element in successful business that an entire industry has sprung up to take care of the problem. And it's no wonder why employee retention consultants thrive: employee retention surveys over the past 60 years have consistently shown that bosses have very different ideas about what motivates their people to stay than what the employees themselves have to say.
The biggest employer misconception is that employees are more motivated by pay than by treatment, while employees have consistently noted that pay is about halfway down the list of the top-10 reasons they stay on or leave a job. The main reasons people want to quit center on treatment and conditions.
When the economy is down, employees are more likely to tolerate what they perceive as odd management policies and even poor treatment. But as soon as another door opens, they'll run through it ... even if conditions are similar, if for no other reason than to change the faces they see every day. Employers may view rising unemployment as an advantage because jobs are harder to find, but they make this mistake at their own peril because the best workers will actually be in higher demand by new employers looking to maximize labor ROI.
Micromanagement, Perceived Oppression, and Employer Disregard
Too often, bosses micromanage employees rather than trust them to perform. Some of this subsides as managers and supervisors mature in their duties. But it's important to understand that it demoralizes workers and drives them away.
The solution is to set clear standards and expectations for job performance, then let employees do what they were hired to do. It's important to correct obvious shortcomings while at the same time allowing latitude for workers to carry out their tasks. Being overly-critical will backfire on a boss every time. When workers feel they're expected to fail, they will. But if they feel they're expected to do well, and they have room to breathe, most will deliver well without the heavy oversight.
Another issue comes from the result of bosses who are afraid of being shown up. This often happens when an employee was hired for his or her drive and talent, then the boss works to bring the worker down in order to feel "bigger" by comparison. Talent goes out the door at the first opportunity, and the only thing the boss gets is to "win."
Poor Communication and Misdirected Supervisory Authority
When communication is only one way, employees feel more like part of a machine than a valuable part of a team. Feeling valued is the most important thing to workers, proven consistently in employee retention surveys going back to 1946. Bosses may be right about their decisions, but when employees feel that bosses don't care about what they have to contribute, they'll look to fulfill that need for appreciation elsewhere.
Employees also leave when job conditions are too nebulous, or center on the boss's moment-by-moment mood changes. "Just Do It" worked as a Nike campaign slogan, but bosses who are authoritarian without giving specific guidelines for "just doing it" put employees in a position of constant defense for fear of retribution. This seriously impacts the quality of their work, and employee morale and job satisfaction become virtually nonexistent. The most-frequent offenders are new supervisors. Upper management needs to prioritize their training in order to head off costly employee exodus due to these things.
The Number One Reason Employees Quit
The main reason employees go out the door is because they feel disrespected. Very few people in the world will tolerate disrespect for long, regardless of how much they're paid. Employee retention surveys provide undeniable proof that bosses still don't understand that money is not the number-one factor in keeping people on board (it's fifth out of ten, actually). It's true that money is important, but feeling respected is worth far more.
Because in the end, what influences employee retention the most is how people feel about the quality of their lives while they're working. And money just can't buy that.
Simple Formula for Keeping Good Employees
Again, it's not rocket science. The vast majority of effort for maximizing employee retention comes down to two simple things:
Pay employees fairly, and treat them well.
 |
