It’s Monday morning, you have your day and your week planned out.
You have that training to facilitate, those strategy meetings to attend and you are excited to be finally moving forward with that big project. And then… Your number one employee comes into the office, closes the door behind them and says “really sorry to tell you this, but I am leaving”. Whaaaaaaaaaaat!
You stammer, don’t know what to say.
Disbelief crowds in on your mind, you try to think back, desperately looking for a reason, any reason your number one might want to leave you.
You can’t think straight; you are wondering how you will have to change the strategy now, postpone the big project, what’s the point of that training – you can’t breathe; you ask why?
Number one, gives you vague reasons – says that it is nothing personal, that they just felt like they needed a change, they want you to understand that it was a really hard decision…yada, yada, yada.
So what could you have done to pre-empt this situation? Here are 5 things that your employee won’t tell you till the day they leave (if they tell you at all):
1. I feel undervalued. I do a good job, you never have to performance manage me or discipline me, but you also never actually talk to me – really talk. About what I do well. No praise. No discussion no letting me know how valuable I am to you and the organisation.
2. I am not paid enough. You have not looked at my salary for over a year, nor do you pay me any bonus. How long do you think I will stay with you if you don’t recognise my work and financial value to the company? Have I not done more work? Been stronger this last year? Has not CPI increased and now in real terms I am earning less when compared to the cost of living than I was earning before?
3. I never get any learning opportunities. You have never once asked me about how I want to progress at work; what else I want to learn. How can you help me develop? I want to grow and progress in my job too you know – where are my opportunities to learn more?
4. My job is boring. You know I have been doing the exact same tasks for the last 3 years with no change. You don’t even give me any new projects to work on or vary my work in any way. How about engaging me more with different aspects of my tasks, different responsibilities or simply a few new projects thrown in so I get a change?
5. I think you or my manager are unfair/unmotivated/unethical. Yep that’s right, I look at people who supervise me as leaders and I want to respect them and be guided by them. However how can I be, when they do not behave in a way I can aspire to? Maybe there is truth in that old adage: people leave a manager not an organisation.
So what can you do today, to help protect yourself from the unwanted tomorrows?
Look at things from your employee’s perspective. Start a conversation. Ask some questions. Talk to CIRCLE Recruitment & HR.
For HR or staffing help contact CIRCLE Recruitment & HR or call 1300 923 000
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