Post the great resignation wave and the silent quitting trend, the question which still seems to be elusive to the HR community, is this – why do employees leave? How to retain them and make them feel valued? For the most part, the HR teams’ knowledge about non-HR operations are limited which makes it challenging for them to truly understand what goes on behind the decision of employees calling it quits. Though we are exceptionally gifted in people skills (I assume as HR!) , broader knowledge of how the organization actually functions, how the departments are integrated, how project teams are distributed and expected to perform will actually help in understanding the employee better. Here, let us explore some of the key reasons as to what drives employees to leave their jobs.
Why do employees leave – Key reasons
Bad Bosses
How your immediate supervisor deals with you has a direct impact on your wellness as well your performance at workplace. You can work in the biggest organization with international presence and big pay checks. But if your boss is a person of questionable nature or unsupportive of your work efforts, it is only a matter of time before the inevitable decision is made.
What can you do as HR : When the employees walk in with a concern regarding their supervisors, hear them out completely. Give them space to communicate with context.
Work culture
If the workplace has to be competitive, it has to adapt new ground-breaking approaches in making the organization better in all aspects. But what about the existing culture? Is the existing organizational culture,
- Supportive of employee well-being
- Clearly communicating expectations
- Have a robust reward system
- Offering good learning opportunities
- Supportive of career growth
What can you do as HR: If the answer is yes, then you are on a right track. If not, you seriously need to identify the key reason of why employees leave and address it as soon as possible.
What are the red flags in an organisational culture? Here are some easy ways to identify toxic workplaces.
- No support whatsoever
- No formal trainings to help at work
- No proper guidance and mentorship
- No clear role definitions
- No team culture
- Being unprofessional
- Constantly taking credit for someone’s work
- Unfair practices
- No clear communication or transparency at work
What can you do as HR: A culture is not shaped by any one entity or one person. It is what the majority of people are comfortable doing at work. Organizing workshops dedicated to building positive culture at regular intervals will serve as a reminder that employees are expected to adhere to high standards at work.
Being stuck in the same role
It is one of the biggest reasons why employees leave. Imagine being stuck in the same job for four to five years with no promotions on the horizon, no upskilling, cross skilling opportunities and no recognition of any kind. It brings a monotony which hinders you from delivering any kind of productive work. If you stay in such a role for too long, there are high risks of your knowledge and skills becoming redundant or obsolete in the marketplace. The world is changing faster than ever and this type of binding is actually unfair to the employee.
What can you do as HR: Give employees plenty of options for cross-skilling and upskilling. It benefits both the organization and the employee.
Discrimination
Recently there have been worthy conversations around the topics of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Diversity and discrimination have both existed side by side in most work places. Discrimination can be direct or discreet.
For example, have you observed how most bosses have office favorites? These favorites may be sharing the same mother tongue, are from same place or have a common friend. It wreaks havoc on the fair practices at work. Performance appraisals become skewed. Timely feedback is not given or taken. Cold wars become common. Even generally neutral people are forced to take sides in extreme cases.
What can you do as HR: Keep the conversation around diversity, equity and inclusion going strong. Emphasis it everywhere possible till it takes root in the organizational culture. Lead by example.
Lack of appreciation
Rewards play an important role in employee engagement and retention. The rewards can be intrinsic or extrinsic rewards. The emphasis here is on the rewards being fair and timely. The decision to quit isn’t an ‘on the spot decision’. It is a process where the employee becomes slowly disengaged with his job and the organization. It takes days, sometimes even months before the final decision appears. Employees need to feel valued by the company to stay back and be loyal. Rewards are great motivators if spaced correctly on genuine efforts.
What can you do as HR: Make the reward system transparent so that employees know what they need to do to achieve those rewards. Focus on timing and validity of rewards. Make the employees feel noticed and valued.
Overworking
The classic case of piling more and more work on the employees with least regard to their mental health, family time and personal space is the most common folly in a workplace. After the advent of remote workplaces, many things have changed in the professional landscape. Employees are no longer afraid to call out on employers’ if they are not entertained in the right manner. Work-life balance has become a central focus for many. In reality, as much as we appreciate all these concepts highly, the traditional workplace mindset still rules strong.
What can you do as HR: Flexibility of work should be the norm. Instead of setting rigid work hours and work places, allow the employees to perform hybrid operations. A happy employee will bring in a lot of productivity to work.
Unfair pay
Last but not the least, pay and benefits drive a workforce more effectively than any of the other modern HR concepts. By offering good benefits which are helpful both in the short term and the long term, we can keep the employee truly invested in the company. Though many hesitate to talk about salary expectations openly in the job market, we can’t deny that money is one of the biggest influencers of a job negotiation.
What can you do as HR: While focusing on competitive salaries, highlight positive benefits which will contribute to good quality of life.
Understand why employees leave
An organization may be great in many aspects yet deeply complicated in some aspects. Companies should continuously work on adapting processes that are in touch with the current times and the present workforce expectations. Talent management comes with a certain degree of uncertainty. People are not robots programmed to work in a certain way all the time, which makes them highly unpredictable sometimes. By focusing on what is really essential, the HR team can make timely analysis on why do employees leave and act proactively on retaining great employees before it is too late. Simultaneously they can also help build a fantastic organizational culture.
