According to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, roughly 2.4 million people are quitting their jobs. Even though the number of job openings has increased to approximately 4.5 million, it’s still alarming to see so many employees willing to leave their current organization. Even more alarming is that the increase in the number of job openings hasn’t changed the hires rate. This means that it has become harder to find qualified candidates to take on these new roles.
Why are people quitting their jobs
A number of factors have played in the high volume of people quitting their jobs, but a study by Accenture broke it down into four main reasons:
- Lack of Recognition (43%)
- Internal Company Politics (35%)
- Lack of Empowerment (31%)
- Employees didn’t like their bosses (31%)
In the past few years when the job market was really down, poor managers could be poor managers without worrying about their employees quitting. However, with the high volume of open jobs, employees are more able to easily switch to new organizations, which is leaving companies with poor management out of talent.
While you’ll always have some employees who will jump ship at a new opportunity, you can easily improve your employee retention by changing your company culture to a more employee-focused environment. Here’s a few tips to get you on the right track to keep your employees from quitting their jobs.
Take Care of Your Employees
Do you know what motivates your employees and what they want to be happy? Chances are your employees will tell you that they want to be paid what they’re worth, they want respect, and they want to know that they have a manager that supports them and has their back. I recommend you sit down with them every quarter or so, and just talk with them and figure out what they’re goals are, how they’re doing, etc. This will go a long way to keeping them happy and working for you.
Have everyone work towards a common goal
Internal politics are an employees nightmare. No one wants to have a project they’ve been working on for months suddenly get sidelined because someone called in a favor. I’ve seen multiple situations where internal politics have pushed a company backwards instead of forwards, and all it ever does is create an environment of fear and mistrust. Who wants to work in a place where you constantly have to wonder which co-worker is the one who’s going to stab you in the back Julius Casear style. By aligning everyones goals to drive the business forward, you can get new levels of collaboration. If overall goal is to drive more revenue, each department has there part to play in that process. Sales’ contribution would be to close more deals, marketing would work towards brining in higher quality leads for sales to close, etc.
Trust Your Employees
The best way to earn the trust of your employees, is to trust them. Trust them to be able to manage projects on their own, trust them to be able to make intelligent decisions, and always be truthful and transparent with them. All employees love managers that are honest and genuine, and who empower them. By supporting your employees, you send strong message that they are valued and important to the company.