People Quitting Primarily Because of Bad Bosses – by Charles Parnell

According to several polls, over 50% of employees who quit their jobs cite the manager as the reason. They join the organization for several reasons such as organizational culture, career opportunities, compensation, the mission of the organization and its reputation. Organizations spend time, energy, effort and money in hiring an employee. This includes onboarding and training and development. When the employee leaves, the organization does not get a return on its investment. This is particularly true if the employee is talented and capable of helping the organization attain its strategic goals.

Organizations must pay particular attention to the quality of their managers. The attention must be placed on the relationship they have with their employees and how they direct and develop them. The cost of a bad manager is too high for the organization to accept. The cost can manifest itself in financial terms and the inability to attract the most talented people in the marketplace.

• Unclear goals – goals provide direction and context for the overall strategic goals of the organization
• Feeling undervalued – they want to be recognized for their contributions
• Not feeling engaged – they want to be a part of goal setting, decision making and problem-solving
• Lack of professional growth and career opportunities
• Lack of job fit – they think the job does not maximize their interests, talents and skills
• Not getting intrinsic satisfaction from their work – not maximally engaged
• Lack of trust and confidence in their managers – this will impact their degree of engagement and job interest
• Organizational culture – does not have matching values and parameters of behavior to theirs
• Micromanaging and not allowing employee growth and development
• Employees’ privacy and rights are not respected
• Lack of empathy displayed when a disaster occurs
• Feeling and thinking their manager is not fair and honest
• Policies and practices are not enforced uniformly and even-handed

The negative effects of bad management practices are numerous. They are costly to the organization in terms of: losing talented employees, inability to attain strategic goals, inability to attract superior talent, reputation in the marketplace, lawsuits and agency charges, deflated employee morale and employee stress. If organizations want to compete in this global, knowledge-based and interconnected marketplace, they MUST pay attention to and address bad management practices.
Contact us to find out how you can develop and train your management team and increase employee retention.