By now I think I have almost heard most of the reasons why employees are unhappy and worse still why employees are quitting, across organizations. The top five reasons seem to conform to variants of the following – better pay, better opportunity, need to relocate, higher education and (this one is my favorite) do not get along with the manager. The problem is that with most people intensive organizations these are concerns that can be addressed once you dig a little deeper than the cold and impersonal questionnaire.
Better Pay: On most occasions better pay is not really a matter of a few percentage point jumps in salary. If you treat people as emotional or irrational entities, it becomes apparent very quickly that the aspect of a better pay is really a matter of better “perceived value”. It is very much like the difference between two brands of detergent - most chemists will tell you that detergents, the world over, are made pretty much the same way. So what makes one brand better than the other? The answer is perception and we can explain this in two parts.
If an employee is consistently unhappy about his or her job vis-à-vis pay or performance, there is an attitude of “let me try to be successful somewhere else” sets in. Some of these employees a company is better off with since no-use employees are just overheads. But it is very difficult to prove to anyone that a person is, what my father used to call me, “absolutely good for nothing”. Within a typical organization, there will be something that every employee can do well, given the chance. Most times the ‘better pay’ perception is really a manifestation of not being given a comfort spot where the employee is able to excel and prosper.
The other aspect that drives the “better pay” perception is a sense of stagnation. If an employee is not doing anything newer or more interesting every now and then then “pay” becomes the only motivator and therefore the only differentiator. Some potential quitters I speak to have been doing what they are doing for so long that it is the only thing that they believe they can do. “Since X or Y is my only skill, why not seek to get paid better in exchange for my skills.” This is a combination of poor succession planning and poor employee training & career mapping. It is often seen as too much pain to actively maintain what is running smoothly – why fix it if it isn’t broken, right? Wrong. When it comes to employees, the absence of new challenge often becomes boredom, lack of ownership and lack of commitment for the employee. And that generally leads to idle minds and we all know whose workshop that is!
Better Opportunity: The better opportunity argument is generally a combination of ‘better pay’ and ‘something new’. Since we have dealt in some detail about the ‘better pay’ aspect of the problem, let’s focus on the ‘something new’ problem. Unfortunately, most employers are a victim of spending a large part of their day managing the day to day and spend very little time looking for signs of stagnation and boredom in employees. There is always a better or more challenging thing to do – it is called growth.
An employee who has learnt a skill, say .Net and is working on .Net projects forever may actually be interested in Graphic Design or being a Marketing person. Putting aside the reasons why this person joined the employer to do .Net projects, the employer very often misses the signs of creative fatigue. And the outcome is not necessarily that the employee moves to a Graphic Design job but a C# job also seems lucrative when compared to the “same old same old” that he or she can now do in their sleep.
So, to all managers, watch out for employees’ disinterest in what they are doing, plan effective succession and look for better and newer things to do.
Need to Relocate: Very recently, someone (a very high performer) very close to me told his manager that he needed to relocate because his wife was getting a ‘better opportunity’ somewhere. Surprisingly enough, the manager offered his wife a great job right where he was. High Performing employees will not want to quit and relocate given a choice. And this is an option that we do not explore very often as managers. Not only was the manager, I speak of, able to retain a high performer, he was also able to add a high performer to the team (high performers generally have talented spouses, in my experience). Win-Win for everyone!
There are situations where relocation is a non-negotiator (like parents’ health and other such issues) where there is not a whole lot that a company can do except maybe, offer a remote working option. It may be unconventional but hiring someone new and getting them up to speed is more troublesome than letting a exception to a policy. A lot of employers do not do this because they are afraid of setting precedence. Hey, if the employee in terms of experience and skill is worth it, it’s a good move.
Higher Education: Many companies, at least most medium to big ones, offer certification and Higher Education Programs (HEP) through alliances across multiple channels. Why do employees still want to pursue Higher Education? Here is where Employer Higher Education initiatives fail – most employers, when establishing alliances and sponsoring HEPs tend to make business cases that focus almost entirely on the value it will add to the organization. The outcomes are measured in terms of longer employee tenure, higher revenue realization and/or enriched pool of resources. Almost no one thinks of comparing the value of the program with the competing equivalent on the outside. An MBA through a corporate program is never the same as an independent MBA – this is the epicenter of why companies’ HEPs fail. They are targeted to offer a better career within the company and not necessarily add to the resume – this is restrictive and generally leads to employees feeling tied down.
So, it is not much of a surprise that in the age of ready availability of options, a limiting HEP is no match for what’s being offered by the competition.
Do Not Get Along With Manager: This one is my favorite because I think that every quitting employee (unless it is one that is good attrition) could have been retained had someone listened and acted on time. Bad managers are generally like bad teachers – I have heard of very few employees saying, in their tenure, that they have the best boss (and not expect something in return). But you know that an employee who quits because of not getting along with the manager is a definite combination of bad promotion/hiring, ineffective org structure and power that has not been reviewed.
There are occasions when it is none of those and a poor performer expecting disproportionate returns but the times when it is not, there is a target that needs to be looked into and investigated before the plague spreads. What makes a bad manager? Millions of pages written there but there are two key things that a manager must demonstrate to be a good leader. (i) Ability and willingness to fight and defend your reporting employees and (ii) be able to listen, continuously monitor and respond to reporting employees. This is interpreted as ‘someone knows and acknowledges I am worth having here’ and ‘he has faith in me’ and those two go a very very long way to turn around unhappy employees.
In the end, some of them you will lose. It is very important though to ensure that you aide the creation of a good alumni who have been given smooth passage and are welcome back. Those that you can keep on are going to be around for some time and preach to those that follow.
Better Pay: On most occasions better pay is not really a matter of a few percentage point jumps in salary. If you treat people as emotional or irrational entities, it becomes apparent very quickly that the aspect of a better pay is really a matter of better “perceived value”. It is very much like the difference between two brands of detergent - most chemists will tell you that detergents, the world over, are made pretty much the same way. So what makes one brand better than the other? The answer is perception and we can explain this in two parts.
If an employee is consistently unhappy about his or her job vis-à-vis pay or performance, there is an attitude of “let me try to be successful somewhere else” sets in. Some of these employees a company is better off with since no-use employees are just overheads. But it is very difficult to prove to anyone that a person is, what my father used to call me, “absolutely good for nothing”. Within a typical organization, there will be something that every employee can do well, given the chance. Most times the ‘better pay’ perception is really a manifestation of not being given a comfort spot where the employee is able to excel and prosper.
The other aspect that drives the “better pay” perception is a sense of stagnation. If an employee is not doing anything newer or more interesting every now and then then “pay” becomes the only motivator and therefore the only differentiator. Some potential quitters I speak to have been doing what they are doing for so long that it is the only thing that they believe they can do. “Since X or Y is my only skill, why not seek to get paid better in exchange for my skills.” This is a combination of poor succession planning and poor employee training & career mapping. It is often seen as too much pain to actively maintain what is running smoothly – why fix it if it isn’t broken, right? Wrong. When it comes to employees, the absence of new challenge often becomes boredom, lack of ownership and lack of commitment for the employee. And that generally leads to idle minds and we all know whose workshop that is!
Better Opportunity: The better opportunity argument is generally a combination of ‘better pay’ and ‘something new’. Since we have dealt in some detail about the ‘better pay’ aspect of the problem, let’s focus on the ‘something new’ problem. Unfortunately, most employers are a victim of spending a large part of their day managing the day to day and spend very little time looking for signs of stagnation and boredom in employees. There is always a better or more challenging thing to do – it is called growth.
An employee who has learnt a skill, say .Net and is working on .Net projects forever may actually be interested in Graphic Design or being a Marketing person. Putting aside the reasons why this person joined the employer to do .Net projects, the employer very often misses the signs of creative fatigue. And the outcome is not necessarily that the employee moves to a Graphic Design job but a C# job also seems lucrative when compared to the “same old same old” that he or she can now do in their sleep.
So, to all managers, watch out for employees’ disinterest in what they are doing, plan effective succession and look for better and newer things to do.
Need to Relocate: Very recently, someone (a very high performer) very close to me told his manager that he needed to relocate because his wife was getting a ‘better opportunity’ somewhere. Surprisingly enough, the manager offered his wife a great job right where he was. High Performing employees will not want to quit and relocate given a choice. And this is an option that we do not explore very often as managers. Not only was the manager, I speak of, able to retain a high performer, he was also able to add a high performer to the team (high performers generally have talented spouses, in my experience). Win-Win for everyone!
There are situations where relocation is a non-negotiator (like parents’ health and other such issues) where there is not a whole lot that a company can do except maybe, offer a remote working option. It may be unconventional but hiring someone new and getting them up to speed is more troublesome than letting a exception to a policy. A lot of employers do not do this because they are afraid of setting precedence. Hey, if the employee in terms of experience and skill is worth it, it’s a good move.
Higher Education: Many companies, at least most medium to big ones, offer certification and Higher Education Programs (HEP) through alliances across multiple channels. Why do employees still want to pursue Higher Education? Here is where Employer Higher Education initiatives fail – most employers, when establishing alliances and sponsoring HEPs tend to make business cases that focus almost entirely on the value it will add to the organization. The outcomes are measured in terms of longer employee tenure, higher revenue realization and/or enriched pool of resources. Almost no one thinks of comparing the value of the program with the competing equivalent on the outside. An MBA through a corporate program is never the same as an independent MBA – this is the epicenter of why companies’ HEPs fail. They are targeted to offer a better career within the company and not necessarily add to the resume – this is restrictive and generally leads to employees feeling tied down.
So, it is not much of a surprise that in the age of ready availability of options, a limiting HEP is no match for what’s being offered by the competition.
Do Not Get Along With Manager: This one is my favorite because I think that every quitting employee (unless it is one that is good attrition) could have been retained had someone listened and acted on time. Bad managers are generally like bad teachers – I have heard of very few employees saying, in their tenure, that they have the best boss (and not expect something in return). But you know that an employee who quits because of not getting along with the manager is a definite combination of bad promotion/hiring, ineffective org structure and power that has not been reviewed.
There are occasions when it is none of those and a poor performer expecting disproportionate returns but the times when it is not, there is a target that needs to be looked into and investigated before the plague spreads. What makes a bad manager? Millions of pages written there but there are two key things that a manager must demonstrate to be a good leader. (i) Ability and willingness to fight and defend your reporting employees and (ii) be able to listen, continuously monitor and respond to reporting employees. This is interpreted as ‘someone knows and acknowledges I am worth having here’ and ‘he has faith in me’ and those two go a very very long way to turn around unhappy employees.
In the end, some of them you will lose. It is very important though to ensure that you aide the creation of a good alumni who have been given smooth passage and are welcome back. Those that you can keep on are going to be around for some time and preach to those that follow.
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