Recently, we shared our thoughts on 10 Ways to Retain Your Top Employees. In light of recent research, we thought we would share the Top 5 Reasons Employees Leave Their Jobs.
According to findings from Deloitte’s fourth annual “Ethics & Workplace Survey,”
- • Forty-six percent of those who want to change jobs are mainly motivated by a loss of trust in their employers
- • Forty-six percent said a lack of transparent communication from their organization’s leadership was the reason why they were not happy at work
- • One-third of American workers claim they will look for a new job once the economy gets better
In other words, employers who want to keep their workforce would do well to make some changes. As the job market has changed, so have people’s reasons for leaving their current jobs. In the pre-technology, pre-global market days, the number one reason was almost always that they disliked their bosses. These days, the reasons are more likely to be internal.
Here are the top 5 most often given:
- 1) Employees feel unrecognized and unappreciated. Made to feel like expendable pawns in the greater game, they resent not even receiving a simple “Thank You” when they’ve performed well.
- 2) Employees see scarce opportunities for career advancement or career growth.
- 3) Employees are overworked and totally stressed out at their jobs, which they perceive as an overwhelming lack of respect for themselves and their work/life balance issues.
- 4) Employees perceive a serious lack of coaching and/or mentoring from their employers. The rapidity of technological changes and the focus on short-term success has caused increased competition for the best jobs and the requirement for ever more talented employees, which makes employees feel they need more feedback, training, and mentoring.
- 5) Employees feel that better compensation and benefits can be found elsewhere.
Back in the mid-twentieth century, employees felt they could trust their companies and expected to be with the same organization for the majority of their working years. Without a climate of merger mania, overseas exporting of jobs, and a primary focus on short-term returns to satisfy stockholders, senior management concentrated on the long-term development, stability, and profitability of their companies. Most employees felt this focus on the long term and felt stable and comfortable with their jobs and employers. They knew that their jobs weren’t in jeopardy if they made a mistake, had a bad week, or didn’t work 65 to 85 hours a week.
Since the mid-1980’s, the fundamental change in business focus to short-term profitability, the loss of millions of jobs to computers and overseas manufacturing, and the frequent economic spikes and recessions, has changed employee mentality from security to insecurity. The philosophy of looking at their job as a long-term relationship has been replaced by employees’ expecting consideration, coaching, understanding, and rapid advancement opportunities.