Why Good Employees Quit
Many reports are available on how “The Great Resignation” is still an ongoing wave that is hitting across all industries right now (in May alone, 4.3 million Americans quit their job). Businesses are losing employees at such a high rate that there are currently 2 open positions for every 1 person looking for work.
At this point, this isn’t just an anomaly or blip, but a massive cultural shift and changing of expectations for the workplace. And in the last few months specifically, the home services industry has been getting hit hard with employee resignations.
The loss of talented and reliable revenue-generating employees impacts companies of all sizes, but it is especially devastating for the small to medium-sized who are likely already understaffed to begin with. It halts progress as well as dropping morale for everyone needing to pick up the extra load. This in turn leads to others exiting as well and a tough cycle to hire back out of.
What is really important is that it is not a mystery as to why employees are currently quitting en masse and the good news is there are measures that can be implemented to make employee retention strong.
According to a huge study from Global Leadership Forecasting, there are seven factors that are most predictive of retaining your best employees.
In order of most impact, they are:
- Employees know what constitutes good performance in their role.
- Employees have a clear understanding of their future career paths in the organization.
- Employees feel that their direct manager genuinely cares about their well-being.
- Employees have a high-quality development plan.
- Employees receive effective coaching from their managers.
- Employees get feedback on their skills.
- Employees have access to the information and tools needed to do their job well.
Here are the top warning signs you are at risk of losing good employees and what you can proactively be doing about it:
Warning Sign: Not Aligning Employees' Work With Their Goals
Do you know the goals of each of your team members? What are they trying to accomplish both in life and in their career? Does at least some of their work put them in line to accomplish those goals? Are they growing? Do they feel like they are developing and making progress? Do you constantly put off or reschedule their training?
If a good employee isn't growing and achieving their personal goals, they'll feel stifled and likely grow bored with their job.
According to an Internet Trends report, Millennials (which are most of your current workforce) say that growth opportunities are their #1 most valued benefit in a company. When they feel their job doesn't help them achieve their goals, they'll be motivated to look to another job to provide it.
Proactive Leadership: Ask questions about your employee's goals in your 1-1s and make sure everyone has a plan for their professional growth. Get them involved with training! If you have promised them training make sure you follow through and when you have started them in training don’t take it away from them. If they feel that there is a plan and a sense of progress, even if it's slow, they'll be far more motivated, engaged, and likely to stick around.
