Ignoring the Obvious

 “The Great Resignation” saw/is seeing a shift in why people leave their jobs. A 2021 Pew Research Center study https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/09-majority-of-workers-who-quit-a-job-in-2021 cite-low-pay-no-opportunities-for-advancement-feeling-disrespected/) 63% of those leaving cited low pay, 63% no opportunities for advancement, and 57% felt disrespected. It would appear that many of those who were out of work during COVID came to see their work-life balance differently and decided that the compensation was not worth the negative impact on quality of life. I deal with this in Chapter 7 (Relationship and the Underlying Principle of Fairness) of Creating High Performers.  

Before this emerging post-COVID trend, 63% of workers reported leaving their jobs because of “bad bosses.” If you look at the second and third most prevalent reasons cited in the Pew research, poor people management is at the heart of these causes. 

Add to this that “employee engagement” scores have been steady at around 63% (below what an employer would want) for over a decade.  

Given the high cost of turnover, one would think CEOs would problem-solve and implement solutions to improve employee retention, but, in my experience, that is not the case. Instead, companies are ignoring or unable to solve the obvious.  

From my experience, I would offer the following as to why this is occurring:

1. Poor selection of “supervisors .”The general practice here is to elevate the best technical worker to lead other workers in a given functional unit. There is a failure to understand or put into practice the understanding that the skills and value system needed to get the very best out of employees and retain them is VERY different from what is required to be a peak technical performer.
2. Failure to make clear what people managers should produce as outcomes and how success will be measured.
3. Inability to provide even basic training in people management
4. Failure to offer sound tools for people management, e.g., existing employee evaluation forms and methods, are counter-productive
5. Failure to hold people managers accountable for people management outcomes
6. Inability to commit resources for employee development
7. Failure to implement career ladders and to manage employees up those ladders
8. The inability of people managers to effectively deal with low performers due to #1,2,3,4, 5 above. This results in eroding morale as co-workers have to pick up the slack and respect for people managers erodes, i.e., unfairness creeps into the employee mindset.

Creating High Performers offers a methodology to begin overcoming some of these failures. It is easy to use, and tools are available on this website to help you get there. But, the road is not easy for organizations to reverse these trends. They have been the norm for too many years. Too many existing people managers are victims of these failures. We have completed training and coaching in numerous organizations and found that adopting The Question Method® and its consistent use is challenging. Organizations do need to be committed to eliminating all 8 of these failures and be in it for the long haul before it becomes an embedded part of the organizational culture and thus on autopilot.  

Contact me at billd@professionalgrowthsystems.com