Common mistakes that make good employees leave

A company’s success depends on efficient, talented, and passionate employees. Good employees make things happen and they’re more than happy to work because they’re passionate.

However, brilliant employees are hard to come by, so retaining them is important to your company. Do so by keeping them happy. This way, they’ll be motivated to stay and continue to deliver excellent ideas. 

Yet, there are times when employees just leave, and maybe you can’t figure out why. You may be wondering if it’s a salary issue, something you said, or they just got offered to work at a different company.

There are several reasons why a good employee would like to leave, and most of them are avoidable. Here we’ll list the most common mistakes companies make that force their top employees to leave.

Career growth is something that all employees look for in a company. It’s good to have some stability, but employees feel underestimated when they don’t have any chances to scale positions, despite the years they put into their job to deliver results.

And career development doesn’t always mean promotion, it could also mean training. Successful companies invest in bootcamps, training programs and college degrees for their employees. This makes them feel valued and, therefore, they’ll be more motivated to work and stay with your company. 

Good employees always want to earn more and learn more. Do not overlook the positive impact of promoting outstanding employees and training those who are lacking. Look at it as an investment and with time, it’ll be reflected upon your company.

This is one of the most common reasons why good employees decide to leave. Having a bad relationship with their direct manager is frustrating and employees don’t feel comfortable working for someone who doesn’t value their work. Besides, bad managers usually create a bad work environment among all staff, which makes them lose motivation and start looking for another job. 

One of the best things you can do is put someone in charge that’s a good leader, someone that knows how to delegate tasks; has good energy; and will know how to solve problems in different circumstances. And, of course, this manager must have excellent communication skills.

Just remember that a supervisor is a team leader. If he or she doesn’t have brilliant performance, nor will the team. And not because employees are not talented, but because they don’t feel motivated by that manager.

This should be the number one rule at any company: respect each other all the time. Lack of respect could be one of the reasons why good employees leave. Anyone on the team can disrespect another member and this will make others uncomfortable, it doesn’t have to be their supervisor or their direct manager.

The following is what Samantha R. Strazanac, founder of Strazanac Solutions, said to b2b.kununu.com: 

“Good employees quit for a variety of reasons. But in my experience, it stems from one main source: respect. If an employee isn’t receiving the respect they know they’ve earned and deserved then you will be hard-pressed to get them to stay.

Respect could mean how employees are treated by managers and coworkers, or the types of assignments and projects they receive. When people say they left a job because they weren’t paid enough, it means the company didn’t respect their results enough to compensate them appropriately. 

 

Again, it’s all about respect. If an employee’s abilities aren’t respected enough to receive appropriate compensation or be given projects that challenge and utilize their abilities and skills, they will leave. If they are mistreated by others within the company, it’s because of a lack of respect”
 

Although this isn’t something that most employees want to admit to their employers, work-life balance is a must. Good employees are usually so dedicated to their company that they’re often seen as workaholics and employers don’t see how this affects health.

Passionate employees would not admit they need free time until they leave. That’s why it’s important to offer them a balanced schedule that allows them to spend time with their loved ones. Their world must not always be surrounded by work, they need to have some time to enjoy the money they earn.

If you want to keep good employees happy, build a friendly schedule for them, allow them to go on paid vacations once in a while, or you can even allow remote-working at a certain week of the month.

Rules are important to maintain an organized and fair workspace. But misguided rules demotivate everyone. Some companies try to be so specific with the rules that they end-up creating silly policies that don’t make sense. 

Companies must ensure that policies are up-to-date because some are based on obsolete notions that no longer make sense to be followed today. When a good employee feels forced to follow irrelevant rules, they’ll start looking for another company where they’d like to work.

Good employees could also leave because they feel they mismatch with the company’s values. You may think this isn’t something important and ignore this when you’re hiring someone, but even if you hire a great employee, he will feel unhappy once he finds out he doesn’t agree with the company’s values. Although there’s’ nothing to avoid once that person is already working at your company, you can surely take this into account when you’re hiring someone. It’s important to clarify the company’s view in your interviews with applicants to see if they can relate to your values. 

This factor is very related to emotional attachment. We’ve all met someone that is not willing to leave their job because they feel emotionally attached to that company, its vision, and what it’s doing to society. If your employee is not able to connect with the company’s values, he’ll probably leave.

Competitiveness is more important than you may think. Good employees are competitive. They like challenges, attention, and feel like they’re the best. If they feel they’re not being challenged enough, they’ll feel deteriorated and underutilized, which will demotivate them. 

Constantly challenge them by assigning major projects and crucial tasks so they’ll feel worthy among the best. Besides, if they succeed, their satisfaction level will skyrocket and motivate them to keep scaling in the company. And, of course, they need to be compensated for it.

There’s a big mistake that companies make because they’re not aware of this topic; they forget about the importance of competitiveness. Most people think others should be treated equally because that’s what we were told in school: everyone’s a winner. And although it sounds like it’ll keep every member of the team motivated, it’s only going to create the opposite result. People won’t dare put more effort into improving or achieving goals because – in the end – we all win, no matter how much I challenge myself. 

Differences are healthy, and they challenge employees to be better every time. Good employees usually leave because they think it’s effortless to improve and be valued as they should. In a company, people should be treated equally, but merit should be the redeeming aspect of promoting someone.

Top employees are there because they’re outstanding and they know they need to give the best of themselves to succeed. When a company tolerates poor performance, good employees feel there are no career development opportunities and no challenges.

Besides, if they’re working on a team, their work will be negatively affected by poor performing members in the group, which results in poor outcomes. If this happens at your company, your good employees will likely leave to find another company that boosts their potential.

There’s nothing more demotivating than challenging yourself, achieving goals – and receiving no recognition for your hard work. Recognition has a huge power on employee performance. Good employees like to be challenged, it’s true, but accomplishments need to be recognized.

James Feldstein, President of Audio Den, referred to the importance of employee recognition this way:

“Good employees will leave a company if they don’t receive recognition for their contribution, and feel unappreciated. No one wants to continue to work hard and bring value to a company if their efforts are ignored. A thank you from management goes a long way. Recognizing employees for their contributions doesn’t have to include monetary incentives. It can be as simple as a private conversation or email message.”
 

Empathy is crucial for retaining good employees. If your company can’t interact with employees at a personal level, this will result in a lack of high-performance employees.

Everybody needs to feel that their company cares about them, their needs, expectations, and desire to grow. If your company fails to empathize with employees, this will make them want to leave as soon as they can. 

Just think about this: if you’re working at an eight-hour job, interacting with other members of the team, and dedicating them your knowledge and time, all you’d want is a little empathy. Successful companies know this, and they invest time in finding solutions for making their employees feel comfortable.

Showing your employees the bigger picture will make them feel involved in the work process. A company’s success should be felt among those involved. A major mistake that companies usually make is to assign employees tasks without purpose. This makes workers feel underestimated and not as important as they actually are, and eventually, they’d like to go to a place where they do feel included in the game. Good employees genuinely care about their job and the company. Make them feel like they’re an important piece of the game by revealing them their purpose.

Sometimes the most brilliant idea can come from your top employee, and if they don’t feel that they have your support, they’ll feel underutilized and undervalued. If this happens regularly, your employee will want to leave for a more supportive company.

Support could also mean allowing them to do what they enjoy the most. Maybe your employee enjoys some projects or tasks more than others. If you let them do what they love the most they’ll feel motivated every time they get up and get to work.

Google created an initiative allowing employees to spend more time doing tasks they enjoy the most. This resulted in a better performance from their employees and good initiatives that helped Google improve its products.

Everybody wants to do a fun job, doing fun tasks, and enjoying their life in a workspace. We’re not telling you that you should allow them to watch a football game instead of doing work, but maybe you could spice things up by doing fun activities. Some companies invest in yoga classes for their employees, excursions, and other fun activities that make their employees feel proud of the company they work at.

Good employees will stay put as long as they feel valued. This can be done if you appreciate and recognize their effort, invest in career development capacitation, and care about their needs. Remember, investing in creating a great environment for them is key to retain brilliant employees.