Friday, September 23, 2016

Why are People Quitting the Jobs They Love?

     I ran across an interesting article in Inc. Magazine that addressed this issue in a very succinct manner.  The discussed the seven issues that most like will cause good employees to leave their jobs. "
To win at being the best company, you must first win over your best employees".    The biggest issues are the same every where you look, from the small companies to the largest corporations.


1. Stagnation: There is an old joke about the "Peter Principle", where you promote people to their level of incompetence and leave them there.  Stagnation kills all drive and employees loose interest.
2. Overwork:  Expecting employees to do their work and cover for either the lack of people or the laziness of others is a serious reason for people to become frustrated.
3. Vague Visions:  A lack of feeling like your work is contributing to a goal or making them feel like what they are doing really means something is essential.
4. Profits Over People:  Being more concerned with the bottom line in an area where people are really putting out to make things work will cause these good people to loos interest and not be as interested in putting in the extra effort.  Find out what the real cause of the problem and be willing to fix it. 
5. Lack of Recognition:  When you have people that really put out for you, let them know that you appreciate them.  A "Thank You" goes a long way.
6. Lack of Trust:  Nothing drives competent people away faster than the feeling that they are not trusted.  Keep watching every move they make and your producers will be gone, especially the honest ones.
7. Excessive Hierarchy:  When You have a structure where any idea has to pass through excessive layers of people for something to happen, you have a problem.  Creativity and new ideas come from a variety of places and if the people that can make the changes don't hear about them, you are going to have the producers going to a place where they will be heard.
     Most people quit their job leave because of the boss, not the work or the organization.   Ask yourself what you may be doing to drive your best people away, and start making the necessary changes to keep them.  The article is very enlightening and you might want to give it a good read.  If your employees picture you as though you have that deer in the headlights look when they talk to you they will soon be gone.