Why people choose to leave your business

Understanding why people leave your business and having the strategies in place to deal with issues effectively is crucial if you want to retain your best employees. We're looking at the most common reasons why people choose to move on and how you can ensure your organisation is a place where people can see themselves working long term.

The culture within your organisation impacts on the happiness and satisfaction of your employees. It also strengthens, or weakens, employee retention and affects how your business attracts new talent. We’ve given three factors that have a huge impact on employee retention rates and suggested how practices in these areas can be improved.

LACK OF MANAGER SUPPORT

Unsupportive managers are a key reason for people leaving. It’s a common saying that people leave their manager, not their job.

The skills and behaviours required for leaders and managers are different. An inspiring leader has a clear and compelling vision for the organisation, engaging their team and encouraging increased productivity. An Inspiring Manager will be able to set objectives and communicate effectively to their team, helping them to work together and achieve their goals.

John Telfer, Managing Director of Inspiring says “Many businesses experience the problem of Accidental Managers: people who are promoted to management positions due to their technical skills, but who don’t have the people skills to manage a team effectively.”

Honesty and openness from managers is key to effective people management. Managers should communicate with their teams regularly regarding action plans and progress against them; operational activities and milestones. Make sure all managers are arranging regular, documented team meetings or one to ones to ensure that everyone is being given the opportunity to give and receive feedback or express any concerns.

NOT FEELING VALUED

Employees will leave if they are disengaged and don’t feel appreciated. Reward and recognition isn’t always about money. Of course, everyone would like to get paid more for what they do, but other important factors for job satisfaction include opportunities to:

grow and learn new skills;
to progress their career;
to work on challenging and stimulating projects;
to feel that they are an important a part of the overall business; and
to be acknowledged and praised for their efforts.

People can change the culture of an organisation by recognising each other’s contribution. Employees who take the time to acknowledge and praise other employees for their good work will often find their praise is returned. Why not ask for suggestions from your team for new ways to celebrate success?

LIMITED CAREER PROSPECTS

Taking the time to talk to people and find out the areas that they want and need to develop will not only assist you in planning effective training development programs, but also shows that you value your people by making an effort to create the best learning environment for them.

It may be that opportunities are limited for climbing the promotional ladder, in which case you could implement a mentoring programme to help retain your best people and demonstrate that your organisation is investing in their career.

Team up with INSPIRING…

The best way to find out why people choose to leave your organisation is to ask them! Conducting Exit Surveys will help you understand why employees leave, enabling you to identify any problem areas. INSPIRING’s bespoke exit surveys, with reports tailored to your business, will help you to understand and reduce staff turnover.

Why people are leaving your organisation (and what you can do about it)

Understanding why people leave your business and having the strategies in place to deal with issues effectively is crucial if you want to retain your best employees.

If people are leaving your business, it will usually be for one or more of the following reasons:

Lack of manager support…

Unsupportive managers are a key reason for people leaving. It’s a common saying that people leave their manager, not their job.
The skills and behaviours required for leaders and managers are different. An Inspiring Leader has a clear and compelling vision for the organisation. They can engage their team and encourage increased productivity. An Inspiring Manager will be able to set objectives and communicate effectively to their team, helping your employees to pull together and achieve your business goals.
INSPIRING can help you diagnose problem areas and provide tailored development through our Inspiring Leadership programmes.

Not such a great place to work…

Culture, physical working environment and operating policies all factor highly in ensuring a healthy, engaged and productive workforce.
The culture within your organisation impacts the happiness and satisfaction of your employees. It also strengthens, or weakens, employee retention and affects how your business attracts new talent. Conducting a culture survey will pinpoint what’s needed to create and maintain a positive culture: i.e. valuing, recognising and supporting individuals contribution to the company, both from the perspective of the employer and employee.
You could also look into having a wellbeing survey , which measures the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of your employees, as well as identifying areas where you can improve wellbeing within the workplace.

Career progression…

You will have a better chance of holding on to your employees if you have plans in place for talent management, succession planning and learning and development.
Spotting employees with leadership potential and helping them to develop their skills and behaviours will reap big rewards for both the individual and your organisation. Have a look at our recent article ‘How to identify future leaders in your organisation’ for more about this.
As well as offering learning and development solutions, INSPIRING can help with design and implementation of a tailored performance management system to ensure that your team is set relevant KPIs / objectives that not only reflect your business needs, but also correlate to their personal development.

Not feeling valued…

Employees will leave if they are disengaged and don’t feel appreciated. Reward and recognition isn’t always about money. Everyone would like to get paid more for what they do, but other important factors for job satisfaction include opportunities to:
• grow and learn new skills;
• to progress their career;
• to work on challenging and stimulating projects;
• to be acknowledged and praised for their efforts; and
• to feel that they are an important a part of the overall business.

Working with BSI’s new people management Standard (BS 76000) will ensure your people practices are clearly defined and consistent. As a result, your employees will be more engaged, paving the way for improvement in both individual and business performance.

INSPIRING can support you throughout every stage, from your first look at the Standard through to initial audit and beyond. Achieving certification against BS 76000 will help your staff to understand their impact on the overall business and demonstrate that you truly value your people.

The best way to find out why your people are leaving is to ask them!

Conducting Exit Surveys will help you understand why employees leave, enabling you to identify any problem areas. INSPIRING’s bespoke exit surveys, with reports tailored to your business, will help you to understand and reduce staff turnover.