Employee Turnover: 4 reasons good employees leave

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When a good, high-performing employee leaves the business earlier than expected, it can feel frustrating, especially if the reason for leaving is unclear. This article explores four reasons good employees might leave the company and how you, the employer, could try to prevent this from happening in future.

Micromanagement

In many cases, employees leave bad managers, not bad companies. Managers have a significant impact on employees day to day experiences in the workplace. Therefore, if someone’s management style is too aggressive or micromanaging someone, it can cause an employee to want to leave.

Ensure that your managers are well-trained and, even more importantly, friendly people because their impact on employee turnover can be huge. In general, employees like to have freedom and be trusted to complete tasks to the deadlines set. If a manager attempts to become overly involved in their tasks, it can put employees off from the role, causing them to leave.

Employees don’t feel appreciated

Do you forget to praise your employees for their hard work and success? You tend to focus on what employees have done wrong and need to improve without appreciating everything else they are doing right.

You may not realise it, but a small yet authentic thank you can go a very long way in keeping your employees satisfied. When delivered at the right time, giving your employees recognition for their hard work can help to retain your talent within the company. In fact, employee recognition programs are an excellent tool for celebrating your employee’s successes and can prevent good workers from leaving your company.

Insufficient benefits

People work to earn money, and if they feel underpaid, they will search for a different position. Similarly, if you are not offering the desirable benefits other companies provide, your workers are likely to leave to receive the benefits elsewhere. These could include health insurance, flexibility and pension schemes.

Try to evaluate your employee’s salaries regularly by comparing them to industry standards.

Think strategically about what will cost you more, increasing employees’ salaries or hiring new people and training them all over again.

Lack of development opportunities

High-performing employees will have the desire to grow and develop. Research suggests that lack of development opportunities is the main cause for top young talent leaving companies. A Pew Research Center report reveals that 63% of employees who quit their jobs cited a lack of advancement opportunities as their primary reason for leaving.

By demonstrating that you want to offer career development opportunities, your workers are far more likely to stay loyal to your company. The key to achieving this is regular communication with your employees throughout the year through catch-up meetings.

Final Thoughts

Whilst stopping employees from leaving your business is never guaranteed, there are various strategies we can implement to create a happier workforce who are likely to stay loyal to your organisation for longer.