There are employers who think they can ask for the undoable from their employees because they are the leaders in their industry or pay the top salaries. There are also companies who overwork employees because the job market is terrible and they think people don’t have other choices. Both of these types of employers will likely suffer a “brain drain” where their best and brightest employees leave to go elsewhere. Or just leave because the situation has become unsustainable.
But I suspect there are also companies who may be clueless as to why people are leaving. This video is for them. Sometimes animated videos can describe situations cleanly and clearly. The humor is biting and the truths are evident. You’ve probably experienced several of these if you’ve worked for someone else.
I’m the person your high achievers call when they know they need to make a change, or when they have already given notice and start to panic. As an employer you do have to pay a fair and livable wage, but you do not have to pay the most. People who work at the highest-paying organizations, which also can be the most competitive and political, may at some point say to themselves they can’t pay me enough to put up with this.
The best employees will likely be the ones who leave. They know their value and have high self-esteem. They are confident they can find a new opportunity. Many of the employees who stay in bad organizations will start phoning it in and doing as little as possible. The underachievers will stay because they know they will have a hard time finding new roles.
Organizations who pay the most may view employees as infinitely replaceable, and it is true that there is a virtually endless supply of strong candidates applying to work there. The problem is the hiring process is labor-intensive and negatively impacts the efficiency and productivity of the team that is hiring.
The same is true for onboarding a new team member. You need to train and supervise them and do your own job as well, often in a work environment that is already understaffed. It is a productivity killer and it is very expensive for companies to replace people.
Your employees will leave, regardless of the job market or economy, when they feel disrespected, unheard, and unseen. Your employees need to feel like their work matters. They need to feel like they are making progress toward some kind of a goal.
Something I have seen happen a lot is an executive or other subject matter expert go through the interview process and be told their ideas are fresh and needed. However, after they are hired, they quickly find out that there isn’t any real appetite for change in the organization. The idea of change was appealing, but the reality of having to make difficult personnel or vendor decisions, or process improvements, is faced with major pushback and no support from the top.
Basically, these bright stars were hired into an opportunity where they could have made a big impact, but were instead set up to fail. It’s completely demoralizing.
Another way employers burn out their best employees is offering them unlimited sick days and PTO, but then essentially shaming people when they do take time off. Or make it impossible for them to enjoy their time off because they are required to attend meetings or check email.
I realize this all seems like common sense, but it isn’t, and bad business practices are the norm. If you want to be an employer of choice, you need to treat people with respect and consideration. If you do, they will do great work.
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
