Employees leave organisations all of the time, so it shouldn’t usually be detrimental to the business when Joe Blogs comes into your office with his letter of resignation. However, when a large number of your employees are leaving within a relatively short period of time – this should sound alarm bells, not just because you’re going to have to replace all of them, but because you don’t know what’s causing it.
It may happen at a time that you’re going through a re-structure, and the general consensus is that your employees don’t like it.
But, at a time when there’s no obvious indication as to why all of your employees are leaving – you need to be asking why.
From years of conducting thousands upon thousands of Exit Interviews, we’ve found that there are some common reasons for leavers across all sectors:
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Lack of Progression/Development
When a new employee starts at your organisation – think of it as them moving into a new house. You’ve offered them a 2-bedroom semi-detached house, and they’ve gratefully accepted it and moved in. Some of your employees may be happy to live in this house forever, but some will want to upgrade and move into a 4-bedroom detached house with a garage. If you’re unable to offer them this upgrade – they’re going to begin looking for someone who can.
How are you going to keep this amazing employee at your organisation, and support them as they move around? Career progression and development.
The house is symbolic of the role that they occupy, and upgrading is the need for career progression. You won’t be able to offer every single employee a promotion – but, the good news is, you don’t have to.
Outlining a clear progression and development plan with your employee from day 1 of their new role manages their expectations. They then know when to expect to move houses, and what they need to do to get there.
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Salary/Benefits
One of the most commonly cited reasons for employee turnover, as you can imagine – dissatisfaction with salaries and/or benefits.
Again – this can be treated very similarly to turnover due to a lack of progression/development. Manage the expectations of the employee: tell them what you can give them, and; tell them what they need to do to get it.
You may or may not be in a position to offer pay-rises to each and every employee that knocks on your door and asks for one. But, making sure you’re able to keep your employees on track to get what they want will work wonders for your employee retention.
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Relationships with Management
Imagine renting a flat, and really not getting on with your landlord. How would that make you feel? If your answer is uncomfortable, unwanted and as though you should move elsewhere – that’s how your employees feel about beginning a role and having a poor relationship with management.
You spend so much time at work, often more than you spend actually at home – the last thing your employees want is to not enjoy being there, solely because they don’t get on with their immediate manager.
Countless employees leave organisations because of this reason, when it’s an easy fix.
Of course – there are so many more reasons for your employees leaving than what we’ve covered. We only chose our top 3. The easy part is recognising that these could be a problem – it becomes difficult when you need to find out if they actually are the reason behind employee turnover.
Retention interviews can help you pinpoint any areas of concern, before they drive your employees to leave. On the other hand – Exit interviews can help you identify why your employees have already left, and ask what could’ve been changed that would’ve made them want to stay.
Both provide valuable information and insight into your workplace and employee culture, often identifying things that you can’t see yourself. You can only make changes for the better when you know what changes need to be made.
