The "I Quit" Factor. What Do Nike, Facebook, John Deere, Walmart, Lowes, General Motors, Disney, American Airlines, And Others Need To Change For A Successful Workforce To Lead Them Into The Future?

Why People Really Leave Their Jobs

The employment market has changed drastically in just a short, but tumultuous two years. For it to change for the better, the problems that have existed in the market for years, need to be looked at in the new and much more fluid world. That examination should start from the top of the organization or business, and go down through the ranks. It may even be time to consider that living in a purely capitalist society, with little opportunity for employees to fully enjoy the spoils of their labor, has run its' course and a paradigm shift is needed. Profit is great, but profit and success depend more on the achievements of the first line in your organization. If your first line is always leaving, spends little time with you after they're trained, and you are always in need of star players, then look within yourselves, managers. The problem may have more to do with you than you realize.

There are many reasons that people choose to leave their jobs. Attrition, sadly, hasn't been one of them that is prevalent. People are leaving the workforce in droves, tired of the risks associated with Covid-19 and the pandemic--as well as mandated injections. Now that the federal courts are slowly starting to weigh in on the mandated injections, other reasons must be examined for any real change to occur. Real reasons people leave their jobs include attrition, but also include things like burnout, workloads, poor management, lack of leadership, communications issues, and feeling undervalued.

When it comes to working, it’s something that we all have to do to have a quality of life. At the start of our working careers, we will answer to someone. Even the most career-minded individuals will have someone that is in charge. It’s those people, and those people alone, that will dictate the environment in which we spend nearly one-third of our lives. Not everyone that ends up in a leadership role is perfect for the job. Now, at this point in history, is the best time to examine your options if you’re unhappy in your present environment.

Toward the end of my first career, for about five years, we saw the most consistent turnover. Before that, for about seventeen years, we averaged 3 people a year. For a mid-sized facility, in a high-stress career, this was consistent with the national average. So, what changed? What was it that made people so desperate to leave, to change their lives, and to find something that was more fulfilling? The money wasn’t that bad. The benefits weren’t Cadillac packages but they weren’t the worst. To answer the question, they were unhappy, undervalued, and working for bad management.

Piss Poor Leadership

Some companies are chocked full of poor leaders. They aspired to power without knowing the job. Their achievements in the field are far outweighed by the ability to get to know upper managers or CEOs. Politics comes into play in certain organizations. But, how good of a leader are they?

These are the types that do the most damage to an organization. Their fragile egos get stroked by the wrong people and they don't bother to look for their true star players in the organization or business. If you've ever seen the complete jerk off get rewarded or accolades, these are the guys that make that happen. Complete jerk offs have a tendency to also be the ones that suck up to the bosses the most, keeping their small and relatively minor efforts at the forefront of the discussions and overshadowing those that actually go above and beyond the call.

Leaders who are rarely doing any work are the ones that will completely demoralize their staff. When the bosses work those magic flex hours and are seldomly there on time, or compulsively leave early, something is amiss. They make the most money, do the least amount of work, and are oftentimes the "disciplinarians" that upper management thinks are phenomenal. Most of the time, even their disciplinary efforts in the workplace are spearheaded by someone else.

True leaders earn their spots, either before they got them, or after they got them. Both are possible. A true leader will know his people and be cognizant of the fact that he should be building them up, making sure they have all the tools to go forward in the organization, and helping them along the way. The best leaders will never send someone to do a job they haven't done themselves without helping to make sure the job is done and seeing what it takes to be successful at a task. The greatest leaders will build their teams up, help to assure they're given every opportunity to go as far as they can in their careers, and reap the benefits of having a team that feels loyal and doesn't want to let the boss down.

Bad Managers

Not every employee makes a good manager. You need to invest time, money, and resources in training your leaders. Your leaders must be taught that they are only as good as the people that follow them.

Managers are like the coaches of a major league sports club. Ultimately, the CEOs, Presidents, Owners, or in the case of my former employer, elected officials, are the equivalent of the team owners. Nearly 40% of the people I’ve encountered had a poor opinion of management, and upper management or leadership was guilty of not treating people with the respect they deserved. This was particularly true of the division head who had never done the job, to begin with, and was only given the job due to political connections.

Undervalued Employees

People who feel dissatisfied with the job they’re doing often feel like they have no value. When the company, agency, or institution makes it known that they place a higher value upon themselves than they do their employees, their employees begin looking elsewhere.

When the bosses continually fail to notice you for the things you accomplish, the strides you make toward the mission of the business, and only notice a shortcoming or problem, then they’re communicating that they don’t care about your success. Good leaders make certain to award higher than expected achievements and to train people to get past their shortcomings.

I once had a supervisor that was on our union negotiating committee. He let it slip that he was negotiating for a 9% raise for himself and that the line staff was lucky if they got a dime. Not a great example of the good judgment of a leader.

Poor Communications

In a survey of 210,000 employees, less than 50% were satisfied with the companies communications. Having been in first-line supervision, communications is one of, if not the most important tool, in your arsenal when it comes to motivation. When there were staff meetings we were supposed to be sharing information that was available to the line staff. Of course, working for a governmental agency, not all of it was available to line staff. However, the more they could know what was going on within the agency, the more they felt like they had a part to play in the mission.

Lack of Recognition

Most people in the workplace do well at their jobs most of the time. It’s far too easy to only recognize those that do something wrong. So, it’s important to take the time to recognize your employees for their service, even if it’s just years of service and loyalty. This leads to a greater feeling of satisfaction in the workforce. Effective recognition:

• Specific: When something stands out that is directly a value or behavior that everyone should repeat.
• Measurable: There should be a way to track who gives and receives recognition within the organization. Recognition should never feel like a popularity contest.
• Authentic: It should be honest. Management at any level should always mean what they say.
• Regular: Recognition should be done regularly. Whether it’s a monthly process or not, it should be done with regularity to motivate people.
• Timely: When it’s done with expediency it amplifies the good feelings of the moment. So, don’t waste time when recognizing someone that’s done a particularly good job or performed beyond expectations.

Workload

Nearly 40% of workers are dissatisfied with their work/life balance and 80% wish that they could work fewer hours to make ends meet. It’s not a shock that work commitments outside of their normal hours are important reasons for employees to look elsewhere — as they avoid becoming burned out or need to commit to their families and lives.

Make sure you know your co-workers/employees. Help them to achieve their goals. By doing so, they’ll believe that you care about them and they’ll care about your success as a manager.

Suggestions For More Productive And Long Term Staffing

Learn why people choose to leave the job.

Learn whether or not the job has opportunities to help a person grow professionally, and if not create some.

Ask how loyal your employees are to you? If you don't find that loyalty is there, you've done something wrong. Even an imperfect job or workplace can find loyal employees because of how they're treated.

Give your employees a piece of the pie. Making them feel like they have real input and a say in the future of an organization makes them in a small way, accountable for the success or failure of the organization.

Reward and recognize your employees. Whether it's a Christmas bonus, a personalized coffee mug, or even a 25 dollar gift card to a restaurant once a month, that reward will not only make them feel good about what they did to earn it, they'll most likely maintain a higher degree of productivity in the organization. It also incentivizes others into doing more or doing better in their work.

In Conclusion

Employees leave for many reasons. Some are understandable and some are your fault as a leader or manager. But, you can do the same thing that you hope your employees do, and that's to fix the issue and do better.