Let's Not Kid Ourselves: The Real Reason for Employee Turnover

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I received a call last week from a CEO who was concerned about the sudden increase in employee turnover in his organization. He couldn't understand why anyone would leave his firm. He then went down a laundry list of perks he recently added, that would have made even Google envious.

I let him speak and then said, "Tell me something. Is this turnover happening throughout the organization or is there a particular area where you've noticed a spike?" He thought about it and then said, "It seems most of the turnover is taking place in Bob's department. There are a few leaders in his operation who can be a bit abrupt at times--Maybe even a bit abusive, but they're hitting their numbers. People have been complaining about this, and well you know how people can be."

Boom! There you have it. All the free beer in the world isn't going to make employees delusional enough to remain with a bad leader.

Employee turnover is a symptom of a deeper problem, which means that you've got to get to the root cause if you ever hope to cure this disease.

I see companies spending a ton of money trying to outdo one another in terms of perks and crazy office designs that few appreciate. Tales of kegs being opened at all hours of the day or exotic snacks that are making employees fat seem to be all the rage. Yet, here we are. Employees are less engaged today than back in the sixties when a steady job was the key to engagement.

Studies consistently show that employees don't leave companies. They leave their bosses.

I get it. It's a lot easier to buy an employee's affection than it is to deal with lousy leadership. But what if I could demonstrate to you that employee turnover is costing your organization a lot more than you think and that you're spending money on all the wrong things? Would you then be open to taking a closer look at the impact your leaders are having on the organization and your bottom line? What if I told you that a small investment in your people managers could yield a huge ROI. Would you want to know more about this or would you still prefer to spend good money on trying to cure the symptoms, rather than the disease?

Look, I'm not going to spout off some generic employee turnover formula that doesn't mean a darn thing. You know the kind I'm talking about. The one that says it cost two or three times an employee's annual salary every time an employee leaves. Here's what I'm going to offer you instead.

You can access my employee turnover calculator for free. That's right. I won't see the results unless you decide to send them to me, nor will I hound you with follow up email automatically spewed out by some contact management system. All I'm asking here is for you to take an honest look at what it costs your company every time someone leaves your organization.

If you'd like to schedule a complimentary call to discuss your results, I'm happy to do that. Just message me and we'll make it happen.

If you're not willing to look at the real reasons why people are leaving, then I have a request. Stop complaining about employee turnover in your organization. Nothing is going to change until you're ready to hear the truth.

© Matuson Consulting, 2019.

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