How to Lose Great Employees in 5 Simple Steps

When the average employee costs over $9,500 to train, you can’t afford to lose them – literally. In 2015, businesses lost a combined $11 billion in employee turnover, spending precious dollars and time on recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and training. Your leadership within your company plays a crucial role in retention, and following these paths will push your employees out the door in no time:

1.Focus on pitfalls, skim over success. Yes, areas of weakness are just opportunities for growth, and addressing them can take an employee’s work to the next level. But spending time solely tweaking performance instead of giving well-earned shout-outs for success saps drive and confidence. Balance your critique with commendation to keep morale high and employees encouraged, or prepare for them to search for an employer who will.

2.Put their passions in a tiny, rigid box. Allowing flexibility and outlets for exploration doesn’t quash productivity, it boosts it. When your team member is fostering a passion project, their fire and creativity spills over into other assignments. Let them explore tasks that ignite and challenge them, or watch their production slow to a lifeless halt.

3.Treat “professional” as a synonym for “cold”. You don’t have to choose between efficient and approachable. Holding one-on-one conversations about aspirations and showing interest in life outside the office shows you respect your employees on a human level. Otherwise, disregarding everything but KPIs creates an impersonal relationship that’s easy for your employee to abandon.

4.Pile on the responsibility. When they collapse, add more. Your best employee seems to conquer any project you toss their way, adapting with grace and committing with verve. So, you throw them another task. And another. And another. Soon, they’re dropping balls left and right, but you just know they’ll bounce back soon – right? Stretching even the strongest in the talent pool too far will create frustration and burnout, redirecting their efforts to finding a position that won’t kill them.

5.Make it easy. Really easy. Some leaders take too much pressure off of their employees, assigning menial or repetitive tasks that would take more effort to mess up than they would to accomplish. Don’t shy away from challenge. It’s the stimulation employees need to stay focused, invested, and curious. Instead of setting the bar so low that they fade away, set one that seems impossibly high, but give them the tools and encouragement to reach it.

Skywalk Group partners with managers to hone leadership strategies that keep employees around and invested. For questions about retention solutions, give us a call today!