How to Lose an Employee in 1 year

You’ve probably heard the saying, “People don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses.” A recent Gallup survey confirmed 75% of the reasons people quit is due to management. While a majority of managers have good intentions, they don’t realize they are deterring their employees by making these simple mistakes.

Don’t utilize their employee’s strengths or interests

If you are lucky enough to have smart, driven people on your team, the worst thing you can do is to not provide challenging, meaningful work. You can do that by getting to know them and understanding which tasks they want to do, what their skills and talents are, and aligning them to the right role accordingly. Ask your employees what they enjoy doing outside of work and which work projects they enjoyed most. Good employees want to learn new things, develop personally, and grow within the company. Good leaders help their employees achieve success and earn the position they desire most.

Don’t recognize or appreciate them

According to Gallup, 79% of workers quit because they do not feel appreciated. Isn’t that sad?! This is an easy thing to do and yet it’s so easy to forget. I recommend first asking your employees how they want to be recognized (publicly vs. privately). You can also add a reminder to your calendar or to your meeting agenda to praise an employee for a project or task well done. (Bonus: or you can use my handy, dandy template at the bottom of this page!)

Don’t support your employees

I once had a manager who interpreted a customer complaint and assumed the complaint was about me. She confronted me and when I had no idea what she was talking about, she called the customer back and realized they were talking about an entirely different employee. It really hurt my feelings my manager leaped to this assumption before asking for my feedback. Nothing is wrong with a “trust and verify” approach but make sure you actually trust your employees and support them.

Don’t give feedback

Employees crave frequent feedback but it seems like most only get it once a year, during performance evaluations. An employee’s performance score should never come as a surprise. Managers should give frequent, constructive feedback throughout the year. When employees are not clear on how their role serves the organization, which tasks they should be doing, or whether they’re doing a good job, they are not engaged. In addition, when it comes to corrective action, I don’t believe in the sandwich approach of compliment, criticism, compliment; but rather, I believe poor performance needs to be addressed immediately and good performance should be praised and rewarded immediately.

Don’t listen

In addition to giving feedback, listening is another key component to communicating well with your employees. Think of someone you enjoy talking to. That’s probably because they’re a good listener, empathize with your situation, and make you feel important. You can assess your own communication skills by asking yourself the following questions: “Who does most of the talking?” “Do most conversations focus on me or them?” “Do I assume my employees know what to do or do I give clear instructions?” Be honest with yourself as you ask these questions after each one-on-one meeting.

Micromanage

Many managers are perfectionists and have a hard time delegating. If you’re constantly complaining about how busy you are but you can’t let go of some tasks, your employees will stop feeling any sympathy toward you and will stop offering to help. Would you continue to tie your child’s shoe because you can do it better and faster? How can you expect your employees to get better or feel like they’ve accomplished anything if you don’t ever give them the opportunity? No one will ever complete a task the exact way you would, so try to keep in mind the ultimate purpose behind the task and be kind during your assessment.

Retain toxic people

Giving constructive feedback to a poor performer or letting go of a toxic person can be tough. Really tough. However, you aren’t doing any favors for that person (or the rest of your team) by keeping them around. If someone is not performing well, there’s a reason. They may not have the required skills or knowledge, or they don’t fit in with the company’s culture. Try to assign a different role to a poor performer. However, a toxic employee has got to go. Retaining a poor performer or toxic person is a surefire way to lose your good employees and no one wants that!