Your Employees Are Leaving!

It happened again.

One of your star performers is leaving and you had no idea he was even looking! He’s been working with you for more years than you can count. You’ve watched as he’s been promoted through the company. He’s been involved in some key projects over the years and you’ve invested in outside training to enhance his skills. But now he’s gone... Just like that! What happened?

This scene is becoming increasingly common. Far more common than in the past. The thing is…you don’t think it will happen in your company. But it will, if it hasn’t already.

You’ve probably heard that unemployment is very low these days. You know it is incredibly difficult to find good talent, let alone great talent. The best employees are already working. Many are working in your company. So WHY are they leaving?

According to LinkedIn’s Talent Trends, only about fifteen percent of your current employees have no desire to work somewhere other than where they are working today. Only 15%! That means that everyone else might leave.

But not all employees are actively looking. That number is roughly 25%. That means that the remaining 60% of your employees are not actively looking, but still might leave. A percentage of that group hasn’t even thought about leaving, but if given the right circumstance, they would consider it.

Why would they consider it? Well…think about it.

Employees have different perspectives about the desire to leave their current employers. Employees could feel like they are lacking appreciation of their work, meaning that you are missing the Team Builder Lens. Or maybe they believe there is poor communication in the organization, showing that there is a gap between the Strategy and Architect Lenses. Maybe they don’t feel trusted to be autonomous in their own work. The Taskmaster hasn’t been sharing responsibilities.

We’ve all heard the phrase “People don’t leave bad companies; they leave bad bosses.” And there may be something to that. We have seen consistent growth in employees leaving because they don’t feel like they’re getting enough attention to be successful where they currently are. You might be missing the Coach Lens. And that’s a big one for retention.

Here’s our Truthsayer Lens: there is a huge price tag that comes with turnover. According to a Work Institute Study, it could be greater than $15,000 per employee. Yikes! '

Where are they going?

If you are struggling to recruit highly skilled and talented employees, do you engage a recruiter to help you with the search? Because even though you might not be getting help from the outside, many other companies are.

Those who never considered it in the past are now reaching out for help to find the right people. Paying the price to find talent. How do you think recruiters find such great people?

As we said before, the best talent is already working, so someone has to seek them out and plant the seed of better opportunity. Better perks, better benefits, better pay, more flexibility...basically whatever it takes to get them to leave your company and work elsewhere.

So how do you keep your talented workforce without forking over all of your cash?

Let’s go back to the “bad boss” statement. We get it, everyone is busy. We are doing more with fewer people. As a result, we end up focusing on tasks and activities just to keep our heads above water. There are things that just don’t get done. One of the many neglected responsibilities tends to be giving individual attention to employees. Not just sending individual emails or discussing tasks and upcoming projects. We’re talking about personal attention.

You might ask, “Why does this matter?” As human beings, your employees have many needs and desires. As their lives evolve, those needs and desires shift. What was once interesting can become boring and monotonous. What was once challenging can now be done without a second thought. What once inspired them no longer creates excitement and engagement.

So, unless you are having frequent conversations with your employees, you can miss these changes in desires, allowing someone else to attract your best and brightest.

Let’s be realistic.

We’re not talking about badgering employees on a daily, or even a weekly, basis. What we are suggesting is having routine discussions with individuals about how they see their career progressing. Are you asking about their aspirations? How can you help make their future picture a reality? What barriers do they face and how can you help remove them?

Maybe you only do this once a year at review time. And if that’s the least you do, you are doing more than most. This sounds easy and you may think that the other leaders in your company are already having these discussions.

But are they really?

They were trained to have these conversations. They were told to have these conversations. But they are busy. Just like you. They have good intentions of having these critical discussions, and they even see the importance. As do you. But are they? And are you? Are you discussing goals and challenges with the individuals on your leadership or executive team routinely? Modeling and discussing your expectations of them to do the same goes a long way. Maybe you might find that even they need some coaching and development in this area.

Peering through the Coach Lens.

The point is to be intentional about holding one-on-one conversations. Ask questions. Brainstorm ideas. Check-in. Every person in your organization should be working on a goal; whether it be a business goal, professional goal, or a personal goal. Create a culture of growth and development in your organization. These conversations can be done once a quarter, but the more often you acknowledge the goal and hold others accountable to it, the more interaction employees get. And interaction can be the difference between employees staying or leaving.

“I know I should, but I don’t have time!”

Here’s the hard truth. If you don’t make the time to have these important conversations, the consequence may be that you end up using that time instead to recruit and train the person who replaces your talented former employee.

Your company already consists of some amazing people. Extraordinary people. And 85% of them could leave you at any time. Don’t risk losing them because you didn’t make the time.