Chemistry, Life Science & Engineering Recruitment

Why Do Employees Leave?

09/12/2022 fperon

It's not for more money! Shocked? Then read on....

Based on the feedback from our candidate interviews, we found there were four common recurring reasons people were seeking a new role.

Now, as Scientists, we wanted to increase our sample size, so we ran a poll on our LinkedIn page with theses reasons. These are the results (right) from 327 participants from the broader community.

What would be your main reason for leaving a job?

Lack of career progression 50%

Job feeling insecure 6%

Poor recognition/appreciation 35%

Lack of flexibility 8%

Money is still an important factor in deciding whether to accept a job offer, but we’ve found it is not usually the initial reason people start looking to leave a job.

Our Expectations...

The results intrigued us as we had expected lack of flexibility to rank higher. In this post-pandemic world, it’s a reason we’ve encountered A LOT. With a potential recession looming, we were also surprised to see ‘Job feeling insecure’ scoring a mere 6%.

It’s good to see that employers are responding well to staff requests for flexibility in hours and hybrid working where possible, ensuring businesses work for everyone. It’s also incredibly reassuring that people are feeling secure in their jobs.

But why are so many employees struggling for progression in their current workplace, or feeling underappreciated?

Our results…what do they mean?

It’s not great to see, that the top two reasons ‘lack of career progression’ and ‘poor recognition/appreciation’ totalled 85% of the votes. Let’s rephrase that as 8.5/10 people looking for a new role are unhappy because of reasons their employer could influence.

Imagine the effect on overall employee retention, if you were able to resolve even some of these staff members’ concerns?

And so, what could employers improve in order to accomplish this?

“Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.” - Nat Turner

Better, regular and tailored communication will help you motivate and retain your staff. FACT. There is a responsibility both on the employer and employee to ensure they are communicating their wants and needs. However, as an employer it is your responsibility to create the opportunity for these conversations. Some suggestions:

  1. Don’t wait for annual appraisals to give feedback – little and often is best to keep employees engaged
  2. Set clear and attainable goals and assess regularly – this will help visualise progress
  3. Review & provide opportunities for continual training and development – if you’re not learning you’re stagnating
  4. Understand how best to communicate with each team member; everyone is different, establish what/when works best for each member of your team. Encourage an ‘open door policy’
  5. Diarise regular business updates with open Q&A, so employees feel heard, included & up to date with the broader business

Overall actions speak louder than words; lead from the front, set the right tone & honour what you say!

Managing Expectations

If someone is eager but not ready for the next step, don’t be afraid to give honest & constructive feedback to help them get there. Yes, we sometimes avoid awkward conversations, but “protecting” someone’s feelings will only hinder them in the long run & lead to dissatisfaction on both your parts.

Refer to the bullet points above, and agree realistic targets, timescales & deliver on promises. An excellent framework for this is SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound). They are used in a variety of applications across business but can also help structure goals for personal development.

Appreciation Tips

It can be difficult when responsible for a large team/busy workload yourself, to set aside time to truly acknowledge & celebrate employee’s successes.

Us humans are our own worst enemies at times and if we don’t hear that we’ve done a good job, we automatically assume we’ve done a bad job. 9/10 times this is simply not the case – a little acknowledgment can go along a way.

  1. Say thank-you more often, it will get noticed! (how many times have you held the door for somebody, and distinctly remember them not saying thank-you).
  2. A simple, yet sincere “Great Job/well done/really appreciate” is always kindly welcomed.
  3. Use your internal/external communications process to celebrate individual/team achievements across the broader business. Or make nominations for company/industry awards.
  4. Treats – reward your team members in the way they want to be recognised. Be this lunch, coffee & pastries, drinks, a later start or early finish, an extra day holiday, donation to a charity of their choice, gift experiences... the possibilities are endless!
  5. Personal development opportunities are another great way to reward your team, such as the opportunity to attend conferences or visit another business site.

What are your thoughts?

We hope you’ve found this article interesting and potentially helpful – like and share if you think it could be of benefit to someone.

And don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn

Any questions relating to recruitment contact us hello@vrsrecruitment.com

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