“There’s a saying that employees don’t leave companies. Employees leave managers.” This is a statement I have heard time after time. It can be frustrating to see your company’s best assets leave and transfer to a competitor. Abacus CPAs LLC understands the importance of a workplace centered on coachable managers and staff. We value our employees year-round, not just during the tax season. If you find your company with a repeating trend of turnover, it may be due to one of these six common complaints that make employees leave.
“My Manager doesn’t recognize my hard work enough.”
Maybe your managers don’t recognize employees for their contributions and reward them for their good work. Everyone likes to hear that they have done a good job. Some managers forget the power of a pat on the back or an enthusiastic “way to go!” Managers should be excited to communicate with their employees that they are doing a good job and not only be ready to point out when a mistake has been made.
“My Manager doesn’t care about his/her employees.”
A good manager can balance being professional with being a kind person. A manager should be able to celebrate an employee’s success, empathize with an employee who is going through a hard time, and challenge their employees to be the best they can. By failing to show employees a balanced professional, managers can put themselves in a place full of resentment. Those who fail to really care about their employees will have a high turnover rate.
“My Manager doesn’t honor his/her commitments.”
A manager who upholds their commitment to their employees will show them that he or she is trustworthy and honorable. If they make a commitment and they don’t follow through with it, it could come across as shady and disrespectful. If the manager expects the employee to keep their commitments then the manager should set a strong example.
“My Manager is hiring and promoting the wrong people.”
Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes a manager a manager may hire and promote the wrong person. Constantly hiring and promoting the wrong people, however, is a symptom that leads to employee turnover. When a manager has good and hard-working employees already, those employees want to work with the same type of dedicated people. Hiring an unmotivated individual and not addressing the behavior can cause some issues. Promoting an employee that skates by and only does the minimum will cause trouble as well. This mismanagement of employees may make top working personnel feel underappreciated and can cause your best people to search for jobs elsewhere.
“My Manager doesn’t care about my advancement.”
Don’t be a manager that fails to develop people’s skills. Management has a beginning but it never has an end. Even with great employees, it is up to the manager to keep finding ways in which they can improve their skill sets. Great employees desire more feedback than bad employees. It is the job of the manager job to keep the feedback coming. Doing so can keep employees from becoming bored and complacent. The constant feedback allows for growth within the position and can give the whole team more potential and workflow.
“My Manager doesn’t challenge me.”
Challenging people intellectually is a stride in the direction of accomplishment. A good manager will challenge his or her employees to accomplish things that seem impossible at first. Setting goals for your employees drive them out of their comfort zones and into new successes. When a talented employee finds themselves doing things that are too easy or boring, they will start to look for other jobs that will challenge them more. Don’t let your great talent leave because they were bored!
All in all, if you want your best employees to stay, you have to be mindful of how you treat them. A company or a manager is only as good as the employees they have. From taxes to business planning, putting effort into your employees can make the difference between a good company and a great company.
