Year after year, people quit their jobs and search for bigger and brighter things, some leave because their significant other found a better role, some go because they want to spend more time with loved ones or to upgrades skills and some leave because they quite frankly they hate what they’re doing.  When an employee has already made up their mind about leaving there’s not much an employer can do to retain them, and more often than not its something about YOUR COMPANY that made them want to go. Thankfully, our team at Proem prepared this impressive list that outlines the most significant reasons people are quitting so you can retain them before they walk out the door.

1. Employee-Employer Relationship

While no one ever expects to be best buds with their co-workers, there should be a good relationship where both parties can feel comfortable addressing their concerns.  Employees are often intimidated to speak directly to their superiors. As a result, feelings of resentment and anger can develop and manifest itself into eventual resignation. To make matters worse, this communication rift forms and even when the employee is asked to provide feedback no value is added as a result. Our tip is that you communicate to employees that they should feel confident speaking up and giving constructive feedback as it benefits everyone.

2. Boring, Dead-end Job

It is what it is. No one wants to sit in traffic and then show up to work to do even more BS they don’t like. Everyone wants to feel stimulated and inspired by the work they do on a daily basis. If you see an employee that doesn’t have much passion or just isn’t challenged by the work they’re doing, let them know that the task is only temporary or give them a different project. We recommend building a close rapport with your team and making sure every employee is enjoying what they’re doing. If you don’t make a sincere effort, they might end up building someone else’s company.

3. Relationship with Colleagues

Anytime someone quits their job; you can guarantee their inbox is filled with good wishes and farewell comments from colleagues indicating how much they’ll be missed.  If it isn’t it may mean that no one liked that person (probably a 0.1% chance) or it may mean that your existing team isn’t gelling well, – we probably think it’s the latter. Countless studies have proven that having healthy relationships with co-workers is a significant factor in determining whether or not an employee is happy. So, the next time you stroll around your office, observe the interactions amongst your team, is everyone happy?

4. Room for Growth

In this day an age, people want to have a sense of pride, confidence, and fulfillment. They want to feel empowered, and in charge, workers want to feel like they’re using their unique skills and abilities at work.  If your organization isn’t an avenue or place where someone can be seeing themselves getting better at what they love to do, you have a problem.  Our placement teams suggest the implementation of training programs and workshops that give employees an opportunity to improve themselves while understanding how they can add more value to their workplace. It’s important to understand the goals and aspirations of your works and carve out a path that will guide them to achieving these dreams.

5. Overall Impact on Your Organization

Think about it like this, if your company was building rockets or some crazy AI, would your mailroom worker have the same sense of pride as your Chief Engineer? In this case, it’s an obvious extreme, but the underlying point is that your team wants to feel like they’re making a meaningful contribution to your greater organizational goals. Sometimes this may not always be clear to your workers, and if it isn’t, it’s your job to tell them how they’re adding value because if you can’t, they are as good as gone.

6.  Lack of Trust & Micromanagement

The last thing any employee wants is to have their manager or superior breathing down their back regarding outstanding projects. The bottom line is simple if you can’t trust someone with a task, do it yourself or give it to someone you trust. Your millennial workers will start to feel awkward when you’re asking them for an update every fifteen minutes. Your micromanagement is only hurting you. If your employees can’t develop their skills by making mistakes and learning, then they might as well work at a place where they can. At the same time, ask yourself why can’t I trust people? What are you afraid of? No one’s asking you to give not to carefully manage your most prized tasks but think about the kind of team you want when you’re not around.

7. Company Culture

It’s funny I remember looking for a job, in the summer of 2013 right out of college and I remember telling a buddy how I landed this great job at a Financial Service firm. Anyway, after three weeks of me being there, she asked me how the culture of the company was, and I remember me telling her “Get me the @#$* outta here.”  The point of the story is, people are so caught up in the money, the vacation time or the commute before they even start a new job that not understanding a company’s culture is often overlooked. No two people are the same, an environment where one person thrives may not be ideal for another however when it comes to your company’s culture the situation shouldn’t be toxic or filled with negativity no matter how hard the work is because if the culture sucks you’re never going to have solid long-term pieces.

8. Acknowledgement

The team at Proem speak to thousands of professionals each year, and one of the things we keep hearing from them is that “I get blasted for screwing something up but never acknowledged for the things I do well.” – Here’s the bottom line folks, a once a year or once every 6-month performance review isn’t good enough these days. People want feedback they want, acknowledgment but most importantly they need to recognize that they’re growing. Don’t be afraid to tell people when they’re doing a good job, but most importantly don’t be oblivious, if you see someone not doing well or making a mistake let them know. It’ll be more beneficial for both parties in the long run instead of you having to hire new staff every week.

9. No Transparency

People want to be kept in the loop, things like layoffs, high turnover, reduced hours or poor sales can all be red flags in the mind of an employee. We recommend having an open conversation where these concerns can be addressed. If your team starts to misinterpret things because of incorrect rumors or gossip, you may begin to lose critical parts of your organization. If a worker feels like you’re pulling a fast one on them, it’ll be much harder in the future to regain their trust.

10. Industry Decline

The fear of automation and AI domination has already started to scare some people into leaving their jobs. As of January 2018, Proem has consulted with dozens of candidates across North America who told us that they left their current role to pursue another opportunity because they were afraid that there wouldn’t be a job for them in that industry in five to ten years.  Candidates indicated that making this move now would save them from heartbreak in the future and would allow them to pivot into a new field now.

Employers need to understand that the key to an effective retention strategy is to always focus on the little things because ultimately that’s what will define someone’s experience with your company. Sometimes employees quit due to personal choices, but most of the time they honestly just don’t like their current situation. We hope this guide will help you craft a better retention strategy so you don’t have to go through the pain of losing your best workers.