Casey Reynolds

Top 10 Reasons Why Employees Quit



And How You Can Overcome Them
Stop employees from quitting

Employee turnover can be brutal, costly and time consuming. Statistics say that 25% of your employees will quit on you this year, and it’s only going to get harder due to the aging work force. This is why you must do whatever it takes to eliminate employee turnover. One of the ways to do this is to understand why employees quit. Employees quit for many reasons. The following are the top 10 reasons:

Lack of Appreciation
Stop employees from quitting by showing gratitude

Over the past 20 years of employing people, I heard this answer given time and time again when I ask candidates why they want to leave their current employer. The answer was always, “They take me for granted.” “They never compliment me.” “They never pat me on the back after I complete a project or task well.”

Appreciation is the # 1 ingredient to any relationship flourishing, whether it’s a marriage, friendship or professional one.

Appreciation doesn’t have to take a lot of time or cost a lot of money. It can be as simple as a note of appreciation after a job well done, a voicemail saying you couldn’t do it without them, a card accompanied by a gift certificate sent to their home for no special occasion, a sign on the board saying thanks for the great job, or a call to sing happy birthday to them on their special day. Remember, behavior that gets appreciated gets repeated

Lack of Advancement
Stop employees from quitting by offering promotion

Not every employee wants to advance to the next level, but most of them want to know that the option is available to them if they choose. With advancement opportunities, employees can maintain a sense of hope that they’re not in a dead-end job. This is important to them because of how this makes them feel. A dead-end job makes an employee feel boxed in and restrained. Just knowing that they have a possible future with your company is reassuring to them whether or not they ever take advantage of it.

Poor Pay
Stop employees from quitting by compensating well

The old saying still adheres to today; “you get what you pay for.” If you’re only willing to pay minimum wage, that’s what you’re going to get – a mediocre employee. I’m not saying that all employees that make minimum wage are mediocre. I’m just saying that if you want a high quality employee, you normally have to pay a high quality wage.

Sometimes you have to sow before you reap. It may look like you cant afford to pay “X” amount of dollars to attract a high quality employee, but you have to step out in faith believing that if you pay a good wage, you will attract a good employee - someone who can do the work of two or three mediocre ones.

Poor Working Conditions
Stop employees from quitting by making safety a priority

This can be anywhere from old worn-out equipment, and dirty and dingy buildings to an unsafe area for parking or walking. Remember, if you want to attract a high quality employee, you need to give them the best you can afford. I’m not saying you have to spend millions of dollars. I’m just saying that if your company is located in a seedy part of town where normal employees fear for their safety and the safety of their cars, then you may need to re-think your location.

Not Enough Hours
Stop employees from quitting by balancing the workload

It’s hard enough for employees to make a living, let alone constantly worrying about whether or not they’re going to make enough money to feed their family this month.

Sometimes, scheduling employees can be like walking a tightrope. You can’t please everyone, but one thing you must do is to make sure that your superstars get enough hours; otherwise, you might find them walking out your door to greener pastures.

Overworking Part-Timers
Stop employees from quitting by giving part-timers the hours they want

On the flip side of not giving your employees enough hours, if you work your part-timers too much, they will become unhappy. Here’s where walking that tight rope gets even harder. Part-time employees usually are working moms and dads trying to juggle their family and work responsibilities. The minute you start overloading them, you’re headed for disaster. Part-time employees are usually part- time because they have someone else in the family who’s sharing the financial burden with them. This usually allows the part-timer to assume a large amount of the family responsibilities.

When you start working them over their threshold, they can start to feel pressured and begin to resent you because the very reason they chose to work part-time is that their family is their priority over work.. To know if you’re hiring a part-timer who will never want to advance to full-time, on the interview, ask questions such as, “what are you most proud of?” If the answer is a family accomplishment, then know that it’s a high percentage that their family is top priority and will take precedence over their work.

Negative Workplace Attitudes
Stop employees from quitting by stamping out the prophets of doom

Nothing sends an employee out your door faster than being surrounded by pessimistic co-workers. It’s hard enough to keep a positive attitude in a world filled with fatalistic news blaring at you 24/7, let alone having to listen to gossip and backbiting 40 hours a week. That’s enough to send any sane person packing. If you have one or two employees who continually bring down the rest of them with their malicious idle talk and groundless rumors, you have to pluck out the cancer before it eats away at every inch of your company. Do whatever it takes as fast as you can to yank it out before the malignancy spreads throughout the entire company and destroys it.

Lack of Respect
Stop employees from quitting by honoring them

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard business owners and managers call their employees names such as stupid, dumb, brainless, or idiot. This is totally uncalled for, not to mention how this kind of behavior can get you embroiled in a lawsuit (think slander). If you’re not brazen enough to call your employees names in front of them, maybe you’ve exhibited this behavior in front of your fellow business owners at meetings or business groups. It may seem harmless to you, but you may be carrying this attitude toward your employees and subliminally projecting this lack of respect to them.

There are so many things we as people can project to others through our body language without even knowing it. Your employees aren’t stupid; they can sense the underlying current of disrespect in your attitude, gestures, and communication.

Overcome this by censoring yourself. Don’t let yourself talk negatively about your employees. Instead, start to speak into the situation positive statements such as, “I love my employees and my employees are the best.”

Lack of Recognition
Stop employees from quitting by acknowledging them

I once heard it said that people crave recognition over money. Recognition is the lifeblood of all achievement. Think about it, what good is it to write a song if no one hears it and knows it was you who penned it? What good is it to write a book and not put your name on it?

Most humans want to be recognized for their accomplishments. This recognition is the very thing that spurs them on to the next great accomplishment. If you want further proof of how powerful recognition is to most people, just look at the names of buildings or wings of hospitals. Great men have paid millions of dollars to be recognized and remembered.

Take a moment and think of two ways that you can begin to recognize your employees. Maybe you can cater a lunch and give out rewards to each of them. These can be as simple as a certificate printed from your computer placed inside a $4 frame.

Mandatory Overtime
Stop employees from quitting by hiring enough staff

This one is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of. Forcing employees to work over 40 hours causes not only hardship on the family at home, but also resentment toward management. No one wants to be forced to do something they don’t want to do. It’s not like it used to be in the 1950’s when employees did whatever their bosses told them to do. This generation will not stand for being told to work more hours than the average American has to.

I realize that some industries such as the cable and utility companies have to work their employee’s overtime on rare occasions such as when there’s a storm or heavy rain. I can even see seasonal companies who only make their living in a couple of months or restaurants and retail during the holiday season. This is totally understandable. When it becomes unacceptable is when it’s a pre-requisite to the job, when at any time, barring these exceptions, their boss can command them to work mandatory overtime or else hit the road.

Employees want a life. That’s why they work for you rather than owning their own business. They want to know that they can have a life outside of work. If you’re in an industry that continually forces your employees to work mandatory overtime, my suggestion to you is to hire more employees. That way you don’t continually throw money away on employee turnover.

Employee turnover can cost you tens of thousands of dollars each year. It’s easier and more cost- effective just to keep your current good employees. You can do this by knowing the reasons why employees quit and how to overcome them before it’s too late.

Click here to learn more about how to eliminate employee turnover

Casey Reynolds is an Entrepreneur, Author and Expert with over 20 years of experience in Hiring and Retaining Employees.Visit him at www.profitableemployeesolutions.com or e-mail him at casey@profitableemployeesolutions.com