Why good employees leave and how to retain top talent!

As we all know, good employees are hard to find and once you have attracted a brilliant member of staff, it’s just as important to make sure you keep them!

Why do good people leave?

There are lots of reasons why good employees leave organisations but here are some of the top reasons:

Unsuitable reward scheme: To offer appropriate rewards you really need to understand what motivates your employees. One size doesn’t fit all. Of course, financial rewards will never go amiss but it’s about more than that. Whether it’s offering a promotion, giving them an extra day of annual leave, presenting them with a voucher for their favourite shop or an opportunity to take on extra responsibilities, you need to make sure you recognise your employees and reward them appropriately. If they don’t feel appreciated they will start to look elsewhere. Remember, your employees are your customers.

Poor management: There is a saying ‘people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers.’ It doesn’t matter how interesting their job is or how much money they are being paid, if a manager is difficult to get along with the chances of you losing key people increases. An employee who doesn’t like or respect their manager will quickly lose motivation and become less productive. On the other hand, a good manager will inspire loyalty, regardless of whether or not they are being paid the best salary.

To avoid a high staff turnover, try to create the right opportunities for your employees, make sure you are in constant communication with them and show your appreciation when they achieve good things. Employees need reward and recognition from senior management in order to stay committed or a degree of empathy when things don’t go their way, as well as from their immediate managers.

Stress: This point links with my previous one. Whilst there is nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition, conflict at work doesn’t make for happy staff. Managers who use the ‘divide and conquer’ approach will find themselves with a higher staff turnover than those who unite their teams. As a manager, whilst it’s important to recognise good workers, make sure you don’t give an individual more work than they can handle or you will run the risk of overwhelming or burning him out.

Constant reorganisation: Companies who regularly reorganise typically have a high turnover rate. When employees see their colleagues regularly being laid off, it creates a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity so they often tend to look for opportunities they perceive as more permanent.

The bottom line: Good employees are hard to find and replacing them also has financial implications. Oxford Economics and income protection providers Unum estimated that the average fee for replacing a departing team member is £30,614 taking into account advertising fees and wages during the time when a new employee is yet to reach optimum productivity.

So if you want to keep great staff, find out what will make them stay, keep recognising their efforts and inspire them to grow and improve. 

Source: Nick Peacock 

Related Posts by Categories

Posted in: Info,Motivation,News