Why Are People Really Leaving Their Jobs? The Whole Reason Can Be Summed Up in 4 Words

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A new study reveals what may be driving employee turnover during the Great Resignation.

As the "Great Resignation" continues to rock companies across industries, employers are searching for answers.

Higher pay, Covid burnout, and a lack of career development opportunities have been cited as factors. But that's not the whole story.

Explorance, a leader in Experience Management (XM) solutions, recently commissioned a survey of 2,000 U.S. part- and full-time employed adults to probe the hidden drivers behind the sudden employee exodus.

Four words: Feedback that goes unheard

The survey found that a majority of employees are eager to share feedback with employers and do so in the hopes of driving positive change in their workplace. However, employees -- including many executives -- feel that all too often their feedback goes unheard and does not result in meaningful change.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/smallbusiness/why-are-people-really-leaving-their-jobs-the-whole-reason-can-be-summed-up-in-4-words/ar-AAPH3Fv

[dalton99a]

1. If there was feedback, it was "Shut up and work harder"

[marble falls]

2. Three words, actually: Sick and tired.

[hatrack]

3. I might be able to get it down to three words . . .

"Fuck This Shit".

[SilasSouleII]

10. Yes!

[Corgigal]

11. Congrats,

Can add

Oh, fuck this shit, if it must be 4.

[uponit7771]

25. +1

[Celerity]

26. +10000000000000000

[UpInArms]

4. At a local farm supply store

Me: I would like to be able to buy this product

Clerk: am sorry, we don’t have that

Me: can you tell management?

Clerk: it won’t do any good

[JoanofArgh]

5. I assume this problem also existed pre-pandemic when they weren't resigning their jobs?

[Mr.Bill]

6. It probably did, but maybe the pandemic

gave people time to step back and see things from a different perspective.

[Rebl2]

15. I believe

you are correct. Time to reflect and decide to pursue a new direction in their lives

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. I have been commenting for years now about people staying in jobs where they

are overworked and abused. I understand that until the last year or so many of them felt (sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly) that they had no choice. Well now, they understand they have choices. And hooray for that!

I like eating out at restaurants. I'm not doing it so often these days because of Covid and not wanting to be in an enclosed space with many people. If, down the road, I'm paying more for the meal, and have difficulty getting a table because there aren't as many servers, I understand. And I will continue to tip more than I used to, unless restaurants go to paying a living wage, no tips. The same with various other things.

Most of my working life I had jobs dealing with the public, so I know how tough it can be. I try very hard to be kind and patient with those waiting on me. I am finding that as I get older (I'm now 73) it's all too easy to fall into an old person crabbiness mode. I remember very clearly how much I hated that when I was younger, so I try to monitor myself now. It's not always easy. So please, be patient with me if I am less than patient with you, and remind me of this posting.

[Demobrat]

8. Unheard?

It’s more like feedback that labels you a complainer with a bad attitude.

If there’s anything I’ve learned in my long career in advertising and marketing for major corporations it’s this:

The person who brings the problem IS the problem.

Always. No exceptions.

Put on a happy face and pretend everything is great. Or else.

[CaptainTruth]

14. There's a flip side to that...

"The person who brings the problem IS the problem."

Maybe I've been lucky but I've found that the person who identifies the problem & brings a well-researched, documented, viable solution will be listened to. In other words, don't just bring problems, bring solutions.

On more than one occasion I've had the gall to book a meeting with the CEO/President of the company & give them a concise presentation documenting the problem & my proposal for solving it, & how my proposal will result in greater efficiency, cost savings, increased customer satisfaction, enhanced brand value etc etc whatever combination is appropriate to the specific situation. I've had CEOs listen & tell me "do it," creating a new department within the company & putting me in charge of it. They have people bring them problems all day long, every day. They don't reward that. They reward people who bring them solutions.

[lagomorph777]

39. Yup!

Sometimes, it takes a LOOONG time. But in my experience, I've found that persistence and diligence in presenting solutions, prototyping where possible, eventually helps. Generally, the ship turns only after losing some customers as a result of the problem; then management, one day, announces the new initiative that should have been started a few years prior. But we start.

[Roy Rolling]

9. Years ago I was in management

I learned that compensation was third or fourth on the list of things employees are motivated by.

First on the list was recognition by managers, like making changes heard through the old-fashioned “Suggestion Box”.

People are the same, it still works. Employees like working where their boss includes them in the decision-making, and doesn’t treat them like a new recruit and they are the military drill sergeant.

Some managers are weak, they don’t understand employees are the key to their own success.

[madwivoter]

12. Count me in

I've been stuck under shitty management that gets astoundingly worse by the day. They 'listen' to suggestions, but never take (or allow anyone else) to take any action to improve things. I wanted to start looking for a new gig last year but decided to play it safe because of the pandemic.

I started looking for a new job last March, it's been a wild ride (LOTS of job opportunities to scour through, required skills that seem out of sync with the job, wacky interview scenarios, etc.) but I finally landed a new job that I'll start in a few weeks. The new job is also on a completely different career path which I hope will work out.

[BigmanPigman]

17. Good luck!

[madwivoter]

23. Thank you!

[csziggy]

21. I've heard that most workers quit managers, not jobs

Bad managers make workers so discouraged, they will quit to get away from them.

Good luck with your new job. I hope it is much better for you.

[madwivoter]

24. I agree

Several people have left over the last several months (I'm also leaving a management position). How much energy and time are people willing to spend only to be met with a brick wall? I hit my limit, and i don't feel like I'm leaving anything unfinished. I did all I could do, now it's time to move on with my career.

Thank you for the kind wishes!

[milestogo]

13. Many companies have stopped doing exit interviews.

A friend was a manager at a company for 20 years. He invested heart and soul in it, but he also would have liked to give constructive feedback on his way out.

Nobody asked.

[monkeyman1]

16. the ol' saying " take this job & shove it " !

[halfulglas]

18. As an older person I remember when input was encouraged.

But I think a number of factors have changed. Modern business management schools encourage sameness with top heavy management making the decisions despite the "team building" stuff in which a lot of employees still don't feel like they're part of the team because the CEO feels he's responsible for all the success and he's going to take the credit. If he sees things are working, why get input - maybe they'll expect a big raise if the idea is good. Each department is given a budget and they don't really want feedback.

Of course most modern CEOs probably won't acknowledge they share a big responsibility for the current supply chain problems with their refusing to stock inventory in recent years. They're not ordering until they were sure they were going to sell it - now there aren't enough workers to unload all the orders from the ships, transport it in the trucks, stock the shelves when the merchandise comes in or sales personnel. They will just blame lazy people who don't want to work.

[Auggie]

19. Okay. But let's get to the root cause:

People promoted to management without management skills, leadership skills, people skills, or management training.

I’ve seen it in nepotism, cliques, sycophants …

[JHB]

29. Yup. People whose talents and skills are devoted to schmoozing, not management

[Auggie]

36. How many are sociopaths, by the way?

I suspect more than we think.

[fescuerescue]

33. And corporations solution to this? MBAs

without experience in the product or service that the company delivers.

[Auggie]

35. Yesh, especially MBA bean-counters

Who would care about feedback when the bottom line is all about profits?

[fescuerescue]

38. I watched a pair of MBAs from Pepsi tear apart a silicon valley company I used to work for

We were doing great. printing money damn near.

But the company wanted even more so they fired the engineer risen managers that had built it, and brought a couple of MBAs from Pepsi.

A year later they were losing money.

It reminds me of Apple back in the day. MBAs. Ex Pepsi people etc.

[Auggie]

40. +1

[Diraven]

20. Totally true

Places I've worked that claim to value feedback do it just so workers think they have some say over their working conditions. But management always decides they don't.

[Xolodno]

22. They found out they didn't need 2 two to three jobs.

When I was vacationing near a national park, the nearby town had an obvious labor shortage. As a curiosity, I looked at rents, cost of living, etc. in the area. It shocked me.

I bet a lot of people simply just left and took up residence in a cheaper area. And used their time to develop job skills that doesn't require them to work low skilled jobs.

They may have been in a vicious circle. Want a better job...but can't because they don't have the time to develop skills. And can't get the time because they have to work an insane amount of hours. Which pays for living expenses. But want a better job.

The pandemic broke the cycle.

[fescuerescue]

37. Yea I think it's multiple factors including that one

I think the pandemic broke the cycle of multiple causes.

[Norbert]

27. Feedback that goes unheard

In my company there has been a turnover in management in the last 3-4 years. In the last year especially this has become a problem. They need to right the ship and start listening or else there will be consequences like employees leaving for competing companies.

[leftyladyfrommo]

28. I didn't mind the work so much. It was mind numbingly

boring.

It was the terrible managers and the awful stress that I put up with for years.

I have been doing my own thing for 12 years now and I still have PTSD from those years.

[marie999]

30. I like being a 3rd shift mainframe computer operator.

1. because I saw my boss for only about 10 minutes in the morning. 2. I worked alone. 3. About 5 hours of my 8-hour shift I could sit quietly and read.

[Johnny2X2X]

31. The industrial age is in its twilight

The information age is in high gear and it will give way to the artificial intelligence age. We've embraced economic systems globally that rely on unending economic growth to provide basic goods and services to the masses. Office workers right now, even highly skilled ones are not doing "real" value added work 90% of the time. We've created unending paperwork and busy work to keep people employed because value added work is so scarce nowadays.

[roamer65]

32. Two words. Bad management.

People don’t leave jobs. They leave bad management.

[Happy Hoosier]

34. Employers have gotten used to dictating terms of employment.

Of course, they espouse a love of the free market, but now that it is rearing its head in the labor market, they are not pleased.

It reveals most of them for what they are.

But there are good examples. A local restaurant actually just raised pay to $20/hr and added medical benefits. They are not understaffed.