Top Reasons Your Best Talent Is Leaving You

You've worked hard to claw your business into its current position and undoubtedly, your workforce has helped your business get to where it is. You and your employees have reached a point where you are all cogs in a machine, working in synergy with each other. But what would happen if one of your star players were to leave? This scary situation for employers is unfortunately a reality as more workers are quitting their jobs today than at any point since 2010.

While there are definitely forces that are out of your control to stop your best people leaving, if you create an environment (and build relationships) that makes them feel challenged, engaged, valued, and rewarded you can raise the chances of retaining your top talent.

Here are the top reasons as to why your top talent are leaving:

1. Dissatisfaction with job or responsibilities

Great workers want to be learning and growing on the job. There is always room for growth and skill development, even if they are a seasoned pro. Increasing an individual's autonomy in their role can be a great way of giving them more responsibility while still getting all the work done.  

2.  Being unchallenged and dis-engaged them

Smart workers don’t want to feel like they are working in a repetitive role full of boredom. They need to have their minds engaged and their creativity challenged. An example of how you may engage someone in the workplace might be to allow them to shadow someone else from another part of the business for a day. 

3. Lack of a sense of belonging 

On a human level, everybody wants to feel liked and cared about, or at the very least like they belong somewhere. As an employee, they want to feel like you care not only about their career but also on a personal level. An aspect of Transformational Leadership is treating employees like individuals and not just another member of the team. The old saying of "leave your emotions at the door" is no longer valid. Employees who have fun with their colleagues and look forward to being at work are more likely to stay in the long term. Letting them feel like you care about them gives them the confidence to have a voice which may lead to innovations within your business and increased productivity!

4. A misalignment between personal leadership styles and the leadership style that is required to lead effectively.

It's hard to find a balance between micro managing and being a ghost in the workplace. Your best talent want to be given enough rope to accomplish their duties and tasks themselves. Similarly, being an absent or avoidant leader by only checking in with your staff once every few months will drive them away. It is essential to find the right balance between the two ends of the spectrum and a good way to assess how you are going is to simply ask your employees "Are we meeting enough for you to be as effective as you can be?".

As the saying goes: “Employees don’t quit working for companies, they quit working for their bosses”. It is clear that these small changes that you can immediately implement will pay off and prevent your top talent from needing to look for another job. 



To find out who your top talent is, our partners, Psych Press are talent assessment and development Psychologists. Psych Press have a large selection of in-house and customisable assessment tools that link personality to performance prediction for a variety of companies. One such tool, Business Personality Reflections (BPR) has been used for a multitude of roles to ascertain a strong fit for recruiting decisions. Based on a wide field of research and multiple industry norms, this assessment provides a full report for your informed decision. To find out more visit the Psych Press Business Personality Reflections page or contact them on (03) 9670 0590. 

4 Strategies to Reducing Turnover

Employee turnover can be a high expense to a company. The time and money that go into recruiting and training staff is remarkably costly, and the added pressure to the remaining team can affect the company’s success when turnover is high. To avoid this problem, employers need to identify potential triggers of turnover and devise strategies to prevent it.

Review your hiring history

Sometimes it’s not your workplace that is the issue but perhaps you could simply be hiring the wrong people for the job. The hiring process should not only successfully identify qualified and capable candidates but also accurately filter out those do not fit the criteria and may not be a long term solution. In order to achieve this it is important to review your hiring procedures, interview questions, and the people who are making the recruitment decisions. Effective recruitment procedures will save your company both time and money.

Conduct exit interviews for every departure

The purpose of exit interviews is to obtain feedback on why the employee is leaving and to find out what the employee likes or dislikes about their role. This information is vital because it allows you to reflect on possible areas that require improvement in order to increase employee satisfaction, reduce turnover, and move your company forward.

 

Open lines of communication

It is important to have open lines of communication with your employees where they can easily approach you if they have any suggestions or concerns. It is understandable that not all suggestions will be viable but it is important for them to know their opinions are valued. Open communication boosts employee satisfaction and can also give you advanced warning if someone is unhappy. You will then be able to address their issues, reduce their likelihood of leaving and reassure employees that they are valued.

Employee recognition and investment

Increased opportunity for recognition helps your employees feel more valued, and shows them that you are invested in their work and career. This is vital in retaining top talent and also identifies employees that require more training and mentoring. This is beneficial to your company because it creates an environment where new ideas are encouraged and good work is rewarded. Thus employees are motivated to perform and stay within the company.

Need assistance increasing retention?

Psych Press has developed online and highly cost effective tools that identify long term employees long before you run the risk of loss. Learn more about the benefits of online screening here.