Why do people quit their jobs exactly? To beign with, money is not the main reason. Many people quit ther jobs beacause of toxic corporate culture, job insecurity and reorganization, high levels of innovation, failure to recognize performance…
It goes without saying that not every employee is content with their position. While some people would be working at their dream companies and in their dream jobs, others might want to take a break, move to a different region of the country, start over, or quit the job altogether.
However, if your best employees are routinely leaving and your employee turnover is alarming, you should raise the red flag. So understanding why people quit their jobs can help you create retention strategies that stop the talent bleed affecting your business.
Table of Contents
Why Do People Quit Their Jobs?
Hint: It’s Not the Money.
According to the report, although there has been much media attention put on employees’ dissatisfaction with their wages, compensation “ranks 16th among all topics in terms of predicting employee turnover. This outcome is in line with a substantial body of research showing that pay has only a minimal influence on employee turnover.”
Instead, broader issues with management’s priorities, decision-making, and organizational culture are frustrating employees. The top 5 signs of a high turnover rate in an organization are listed below.
Toxic Corporate Culture
This, the report states, is “by far” the strongest predictor of attrition—up to ten times higher than dissatisfaction with pay. According to the report, “The failure to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, the feeling of disrespect among employees, and unethical behavior are the main factors causing toxic cultures.”
Job Insecurity and Reorganization
If they don’t feel their jobs are secure, employees are less likely to stick around during difficult times or even prosperous ones. Employees who have a history of layoffs or restructurings when business is sluggish do not feel secure in their jobs, which, unsurprisingly, makes them look elsewhere.
High Levels of Innovation
You might be surprised by this. Innovation is good, isn’t it? Employees should be constantly learning, exploring, and innovating, right? It might be puzzling, but according to the report’s authors, “we found that the more positively employees talked about innovation at their company, the more likely they were to quit. Nvidia, Tesla, and SpaceX are three standard deviations more likely to experience attrition than the average company in their respective industries. These three companies are among the most innovative in the Culture 500.”
The bottom line is that, despite being thrilling, innovation can be very stressful and can interfere with work/life balance to the point of burnout.
Failure to Recognize Performance
The report is clear: “When it comes to recognition and rewards, businesses that fail to differentiate between high performers and laggards risk losing more employees. Employers who tolerate poor performance have higher attrition rates than those who fail to recognize and reward strong performers.”
Here, simple acknowledgment is prioritized over monetary compensation. Lack of or unfair treatment results in resentment, which prompts resignation.
Poor Response to COVID-19
When deciding how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses had a lot of options. Higher attrition rates were observed in businesses that did not prioritize the health and welfare of their staff.
Flexibility
More flexibility is something that the workforce has expressed a desire for. The jobs with the fewest vacancies and quits are those allowing more flexible work arrangements, including remote work and non-traditional hours. Flexibility is best suited for traditional office jobs in the fields of finance, information, legal, consulting, technology, and public administration. Being able to work from home or having flexible hours are important considerations for many parents, and mothers in particular, when deciding whether or not to stay in a job.
In order to attract and keep talent, some employers are adopting more flexible employment practices, such as remote work, contracting, and outsourcing. In addition to offering training and hiring non-traditional workers like the disabled or those who have served time in prison, other businesses are lowering job requirements (for example, by not requiring college degrees).
Respect
Many people saw the massive increase in job openings and the wave of resignations as a chance to move up and obtain better pay, benefits, or titles. Some people left out of moral conviction. Some people left their jobs because they had to get their shots or because their managers made them come back to work.
While working from home has benefits for both employers (such as, cheaper labor from anywhere) and employees (e.g., savings on commuting times and costs), there are downsides, including the potential loss of productivity, the erosion of corporate culture, and lost opportunities for networking and training for workers.
Even so, given the abundance of other job opportunities, some employees prefer the advantages of flexibility to keeping their current position. In the end, businesses must devise a strategy for when, where, and how work is done that is competitive within their industries and meets the needs of both management and employees.
Employee Turnover is a Pricey Affair
Your employer brand will be impacted if your best and brightest workers are routinely leaving, and the associated costs will mount quickly.
According to Oxford Economics, the cost of fully replacing an employee is $40,000. This sum includes expenses ranging from:
- recruitment fees to advertising,
- the time it takes to onboardand train a new hire to match the capacity of the departed employee,
- and even the lost productivity.
These statistics, along with a competitive labor market and a high number of open positions, make it clear why it’s so important to comprehend why people leave their jobs.
How to Improve Employee Retention?
Always Communicate
One of the key factors in keeping employees happy is effective communication. Your staff will find it simpler to comprehend performance expectations and to seek clarification when necessary if you communicate effectively with them. This is especially crucial now that workplace empathy and communication have increased as a result of the transition to hybrid and remote work. Team leaders should make sure that their direct reports are always welcome to speak with them about any ideas, questions, or concerns they may have, whether they work on-site or remotely.
Additionally, team managers and leaders should support timely, constructive, and positive feedback within their teams. Also, make sure they communicate with your direct reports frequently to learn more about their workloads, how they are managing their responsibilities, and how satisfied they are with their jobs.
Provide Career Growth Opportunities
Not everyone is suited to leadership. Some individuals excel as workers but fall short as leaders. Moreover, some people are perfectly content working as a direct report for a manager, even though they might make excellent managers. Because of this, it’s critical to get to know and comprehend your staff members outside of the scope of their work.
You can provide recognition, growth opportunities, and the chance to explore new interests for employees who excel in their positions but may not necessarily want to move up the corporate ladder. Upskilling becomes important in this situation.
As the organization and its requirements change, upskilling your staff enables them to acquire new skills and competencies. As a result, give professional development of your staff top priority. For instance, permit them to participate in virtual conferences, cover the cost of books needed for their jobs, cover the cost of continuing education, or pay for their tuition.
But: Beware These Core Mistakes Most Companies Make
- Budgets, that are randomly distributed. As a result, they are spent simply for the sake of spending.
- defined actions that lack definite objectives. So how would you even gauge impact?
- theoretical constructions that lack any real purpose when built alone. Therefore, it is only natural that they keep losing priority.
- that are neither motivating nor effective.
Offer Flexible Work Arrangements
The fact that your business just paid the lease rent or reopened offices doesn’t concern today’s workers. Many people still favor working remotely from home or taking advantage of hybrid employment opportunities. If you don’t give your staff the freedom to choose, they may decide to leave and join rival organizations that support remote employment.
Offer a compressed work week (such as the four-day work week), flextime, or even a partial telecommuting option if your company is unable to provide remote work options permanently. With their assistance, your team can experience less stress and tension while also retaining more employees.
Foster Respect in the Workplace
Employees are seeking respect in the workplace more than ever. Nobody wants to experience disrespect or a sense of being undervalued at work. They want to feel respected, appreciated, valued, and treated as if they matter because they do!
An Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement report by SHRM found that 72% of employees rated showing respect for all employees as “very important.” In fact, it was the top contributor to overall employee job satisfaction. Additionally, CEB’s Quarterly Global Labour Market Research discovered that the top five things that employees are looking for in a new job are:
- Stability
- Compensation
- Respect
- Health benefits
- Work-life balance.
How can your company promote respect and value it?
More positive feedback and gaining your employees’ trust will help to promote a respectful workplace environment. It will also foster a psychologically secure workplace to encourage employees to express their opinions.
You must also give your staff the tools they need to work as effectively as possible. Give them the resources and tools they need to be the best version of themselves. Along the way, don’t forget to show kindness and consideration for others.
Encourage Employee Creativity
Although many businesses claim to value creativity, there is no concrete evidence of this. They rarely have any programs or policies in place to back up their claims most of the time. For instance, Google has a 20% program that enables employees to work on side projects that interest them. The following tips should give you ideas on how to encourage creativity in the workplace:
- Offer rewards:Even if they didn’t make ground-breaking contributions, workers still want to be praised and acknowledged for their efforts. As a result, you must be deliberate if you truly want to promote a culture of suggestions and feedback. Encourage and reward your staff members who offer concrete suggestions and ideas.
- Demonstrate you value creativityby empowering your employees to take risks.
- Set up innovation teams or committeesthat come up with ideas on specific topics. This strengthens relationships within the team, promotes teamwork, uplifts the mood of the group, and improves communication.
- Hire various people. If you consistently hire workers who share the same opinions and personality traits, you cannot encourage creativity at work.
Looking Ahead
In terms of how we live and work, a lot has changed over the past few years. Issues and unhappiness at work—both those brought on by the pandemic and those that predated —were certain to come to the fore. The relationship between the employee and the employer needs to be strengthened, so it’s time to pay attention to feedback, reconsider outdated practices, and find new paths.
