Employers cannot stem the exodus of employees leaving the workplace as they do not know why they are leaving. You must know the cause to resolve the problem. There is a massive gap between what employers think employees want and what employees want from their employer.

Employers are still focused on the transactional factors such as pay and benefits. Whilst these are still important, employees are looking for relational factors such as flexibility, connection, and a sense of purpose.

It is also an imperative to address the situation as the best and brightest of your talent now has a smorgasbord of employers to choose from. They are in the driving seat now that remote working has been a success and employees have proved that they can be just as productive, if not more so, working from home. Their choice of employer is no longer geographical constrained. They can literally work for an employer in any part of the globe. They are leaving because they can, and they expect more.

The war for talent is back on.

The top ten reasons employees are leaving based on research from McKinsey. The result of the research is based on top three rankings from respondents to the McKinsey survey who left a job between December 2020 and December 2021 without another job offer in hand. These are the employees who had just had enough.

This week we look at the top 5. Note that compensation is not in the top five so writing a big cheque will not resolve the problem.

This is my take on each of the reasons and what I believe you can do about it.

1.   Uncaring leaders

The sad thing is that this being number one on the list does not surprise me and I don’t think we should use the term “leader” to describe these people. There are far too many bosses who are driven by ego, power, and control. Uncaring leaders directly influence the mental wellbeing of employees increasing concern, anxiety, uncertainty, and fear. It leads to disengagement, lack of motivation, and increased turnover. Uncaring leaders treat employees with disregard, take the credit for other’s success and blame others for their mistakes.

If your organisation wants to lose its talent and be unable to attract any talent, then the retention of these so-called leaders will have the desired result.

If the desired outcome is to retain and attract talent, remain competitive and excellent, then immediate action is needed.

This must start at the very top with the recognition that uncaring leadership is like a virus that left unchecked will infect the entire organisation and its people resulting in a toxic culture by which the organisation will suffer and collapse. Without recognition, the organisation is doomed.

Once there is an awareness and commitment to change, then the lack of caring leadership can be addressed.

There must be a period of discovery which includes defining what the organisation wants to be known for and the culture that is needed to support that. This includes defining the values, beliefs, principles, and behaviours that create, maintain, and sustain the culture.

Hiring and promotion must incorporate the values, beliefs, principles, and behaviours that the organisation wishes to uphold. 

Leadership development programs must be in place for upcoming and existing leaders. These must include self-reflection through mindfulness, and development of emotional intelligence, empathy, servant leadership, cognitive understanding, equity and inclusion, mindful communication, honest and constructive two-way feedback, accountability, vulnerability and courage, empowerment, trust, and compassion.

As I have stated in a previous newsletter, I do not often recommend engaging in outside assistance as I believe that in most situations the organisation has the answers to its problems within it. They just need to uncover them. But it is often the ‘uncovering’ that requires the assistance of an independent body who can probe, ask the right questions, and enable the organisation to find the answers.  This body can determine the gap between the organisation’s desired culture and the prevailing leadership compassion and wisdom that will enable the culture. The required transformation and transition can then be determined.

2.   Unsustainable work performance expectations

The degree of unsustainable work performance expectation has been exacerbated by the pandemic. The workload of employees unable to work due to COVID-19 has been added to the workload of already overworked employees. The workload of employees who have joined The Great Resignation and exited the organisation is being placed on the remaining employees and the organisation is unable to attract employees due to the reasons employees are leaving. The increase in virtual meetings during the pandemic has not considered the existing workload of employees.

Many leaders have not considered the impact of the pandemic on employees. This September 2021 article in The Guardian summed up the situation perfectly.

“During the early months of 2020, people snapped into crisis mode, drew on reserves of adrenalin and strength, and limbered up for a sprint, to manage the emerging disaster. Eighteen months on, this is a marathon, no longer a sprint.

Many people remain in crisis mode, driven by the continuing health emergency, structural demands and personal values and beliefs about helping and supporting other people. However, personal reserves of strength are now depleted, and the wells of adrenalin have long been replaced by fatigue.” 

For many employees, working from home has blurred the boundaries between personal and professional life and for some the nature of being “unseen” has led to a response of being “always-on” so that any management request can be immediately responded to, and the employee seen in a good light.

This overload of work cannot be sustained, results in burnout, and has devastating impact on both physical and mental health. No wonder this is number two in the top ten reasons employees leave.

Leaders must firstly be aware of the dangers of unsustainable workloads and then act. They must check-in with every member of their team to determine how they are faring. They must create an environment of psychological safety so that every employee feels safe to say they feel overworked without fear of adverse repercussion or reprisal. They must look out for the signs of concern, stress, or anxiety, that could be caused by an unsustainable workload.

Before assigning work, leaders must check if the employee has the bandwidth to take on the new work in addition to what they are already working on. Leaders must ensure they have visibility of the capability of each and everyone of their team. This ensures leaders know that the employee has the required capabilities to take on the work being assigned without causing adverse stress or anxiety.

Leaders should also note the time at which employees are sending texts, filing documents, sending emails, etc. that would indicate they are working long or strange hours. This can inform a conversation the leader can have with their employee.

3.   Lack of career development and advancement potential

Employees want to work for an organisation that will invest time and resources in their development and that has opportunities for career progression within the organisation. No-one wants a dead-end job.

Some organisations resist the investment because they believe that once skilled-up the employee will go to another employer when the reality is that they will go elsewhere because you are not upskilling them. When there is investment in employee development, employees feel valued and appreciated which makes them less likely to leave an organisation. Some believe that it is cheaper to hire a required skill than develop it from within which is a falsehood. That person will not be committed to the organisation and will eventually leave. There will be less loyalty compared to an employee who has been invested in. The hire will go elsewhere and then you must look at a replacement – all of which incurs significant costs you could have avoided.

When the war for talent is on, offering career development and advancement is a way to attract talent to your organisation. It should be an integral part of your employee value proposition. Training and development must be continual throughout an employee’s tenure and include everyone regardless of their position within the organisation. Many organisations focus on training and development at the start of an employee’s engagement but only when that person is of lower seniority. There is an assumption that an employee recruited into a senior management position or even the C-suite does not need development. The opposite is true. Even the CEO needs development and advancement, or they will be out of touch with the capabilities needed to effectively lead an organisation in an ever-changing world.

We are currently in a situation where every leader in your organisation needs a capability uplift to be capable of leading a high-performing hybrid team. Most leaders are not equipped to do so.

4.   Lack of meaningful work

I have witnessed so many organisations where employees have no idea about how what they do advances their team and the organisation. Their work has no meaning. They are just a cog in the wheel but with no idea which way the wheel is turning or even if it is turning at all. There is no sense of purpose.

When employees have meaningful work, they have a sense of fulfilment and purpose that provides a psychological sense of wellbeing. When employees know how they are contributing to organisational outcomes, they feel valued.

There are several actions leaders can take to ensure there is a sense of purpose and meaning at work. Identify how the aspects of work that employees describe as “meaningless” can be minimised or eradicated or explain the importance of those aspects of work are important to the team and the organisation in achieving its goals and objectives.

Link each employee’s objectives to a team and organisational goals. There should be a cascade in the organisation from organisational goals to objectives and key results (OKRs), to key performance indicators (KPIs). OKR is a framework and KPIs are the measurements within that framework. When there is this linkage, each employee can see the important part their role and objectives contribute to organisational success.

Leaders must also empower employees, providing autonomy and trust. Meaningless comes about when leaders micromanage and instruct an employee how to carry out a task step by step. This just makes an employee into robot that acts on instruction. Meaningful work is obtained when an employee is empowered – has decision making rights, has autonomy – self-directing freedom, and trust – the belief that they will do the right thing and you have confidence in them.

5.   Lack of support for employee health and wellbeing

Employee health and wellbeing, and in particularly, mental wellbeing should be the priority for every organisation and every leader. Unfortunately, it is not. Despite the pandemic raising a greater awareness of workplace factors contributing to poor mental health, little has been done to address it. Employees are not connecting what they say to what they do.

Too many, far too many, organisations invest in point solutions and then sit back in the belief that they have addressed the problem. They have not. Point solution include apps by which I can show I am grateful, sweat patches that alert me when I am stressed, happy or sad wristbands which I can use to indicate how I am feeling, yoga classes on Monday and mindfulness classes on Friday. I will even include in this list Mental Health First Aiders. Stay with me while I explain.

All these solutions have a part to play in employee mental wellbeing but on their own they are just point solutions. For example, we must remove the stigma of mental health in the workplace - the negative view or attitude to people with a mental health condition which can result in harassment and discrimination. If we do not, employees will not reach out to a mental health first aider for assistance as they fear the repercussions. The stigma prevents those struggling from feeling safe to disclose and seek support.

We must remove the stigma, provide education for every leader and their employees, and provide a mental wellbeing platform that is both holistic and contextual.

Holistic. The platform must meet the needs of everyone in the organisation. Not everyone enjoys yoga or going to the gym. These can be part of the mental health platform, but it also needs to contain resources that are address the needs of everyone. It must be inclusive and support the entire organisation not just a portion of it. It must address the mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of wellbeing.

 

Contextual. Employees need specific tools and resources that will help them address the challenges or adversities they face at a given point in time. As an industry colleague, Paula Davis, once said, “You cannot yoga your way out of burnout.” If I am stressed, anxious, and approaching burnout because I am struggling to resolve a complex problem I am faced with and have a tight deadline in which to find a solution, the Friday yoga session is not going to help me. I need access to support and resources that address problem solving, collaboration, self-efficacy, and communication.

Leaders must also work to remove the causes as well as addressing the effects.

Conclusion

Employers must focus on the right things to retain talent. The exodus will not be stemmed with band-aid solutions. A focus on the transaction aspects or the relational aspects will not fix it. Employers must focus on both.

Next week I will explore the next set of five reasons employees are leaving you.