The Real Reasons Employees Quit — and How to Retain Them
Oct 22, 2024
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Ethan Bernstein, an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, and Michael Horn, Co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, delve into why employees quit and how to retain them. They discuss the complex motivations behind turnover, challenging common misconceptions. The duo emphasizes the importance of proactive management and ongoing career conversations. Their insights include innovative job descriptions and a collaborative toolkit to bridge the HR-manager gap in retention strategies, leading to more engaged employees.
Employee turnover is influenced by a variety of factors, including corporate culture and career alignment, rather than solely individual performance.
Organizations must shift their retention strategies from superficial incentives to a deeper understanding of employees' motivations and needs.
Deep dives
Understanding Employee Attrition Factors
Research indicates that employee turnover can be driven by various factors beyond individual performance or managerial shortcomings. Issues such as corporate culture, lack of promotional opportunities, and financial compensation often influence employees’ decisions to leave. This nuanced understanding emerged from a study over several years involving interviews with numerous job switchers across industries, revealing that many factors play a role in the decision to change jobs. Recognizing these elements is critical for organizations aiming to improve employee retention strategies.
The Nature of Turnover and Its Implications
While some level of employee turnover is normal, determining when it becomes detrimental to an organization is essential. Not every departure is a loss; rather, it is crucial to assess whether the employee's career trajectory aligns with the organization's needs. Whenever a mismatch occurs, acknowledging this might enable managers to facilitate smoother transitions, possibly allowing employees to return in the future. Therefore, a balance needs to be struck between retaining talent and understanding when it is best for individuals to move on.
Ineffectiveness of Traditional Retention Strategies
Current retention strategies often focus on superficial incentives, such as salary increases or promotions, which may not adequately address deeper underlying issues causing attrition. Many employees either overlook or misunderstand the root reasons for their dissatisfaction, leading to misguided attempts to enhance their job satisfaction. Consequently, organizations must shift focus from merely supplying incentives to comprehensively understanding employees’ preferences, motivations, and the specific conditions driving their need for change. This reorientation is crucial in a post-pandemic environment where employee priorities and preferences have notably evolved.
Identifying Pushes and Pulls in Job Transitions
The research identifies numerous 'push' and 'pull' factors driving people toward job transitions, categorized into four primary 'quests.' Employees may be motivated to leave due to feeling trapped ('get out quest'), seeking better control over their work-life balance ('regain control'), desiring alignment between their skills and work ('regain alignment'), or pursuing new career milestones ('next step quest'). Understanding these motivations allows employers to better address employee concerns and fosters a more supportive workplace environment. Additionally, organizations can optimize retention efforts by aligning employee aspirations with available opportunities.
Unwelcome employee turnover can create big problems for managers, teams, and organizations, so it's important to understand the real drivers of attrition. New research from Ethan Bernstein, associate professor at Harvard Business School, and Michael Horn, cofounder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, points to a host of push and pull forces that cause workers to jump ship and also outlines better retention strategies. They are the coauthors, along with Bob Moesta, of the HBR article "Why Employees Quit" and the book Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career.
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