Why do so many organisations still fail to retain their top talent and in fact it is getting more alarming in recent years. A lot of the business owners has the mindset of “no one is irreplaceable” and the question is why do they allow their top talent to leave so easily? It is so expensive to replace someone who has the skills set, competitive in the market as well as their dedication and commitment to their job. Attracting great people is pointless if you can’t retain them.
Here are the five reasons why companies fail to retain their star players:
1 You don’t have engagement and career development
Most employees will want to know if there are potential career growth or progressions in their role. At least opportunity for the employees to attend development course or seminars which allows them to seek fresher industry practises if it is relevant to their roles. The last thing you want is to hear from them telling you there is no clear career path with your company and a dive in motivations. Soon this leads to disengagement, particularly if there are other roles available elsewhere. A strong salary and benefits package alone may not be sufficient enough to keep your best talent.
2. You communicate poorly on company vision & goals
Keeping employees in the dark of what’s happening in the company has no benefits. Majority of the employees want to feel excited and passionate about the business they work for and need to see a clear vision together with the organisation. If the organisation fails to promote positive communication and lack of clarity of the goals of the business as a whole, employees can soon lack direction and drive. A lack of vision often leads people to look for inspiration in a different place.
3. You don’t listen to your employees
You do what you’ve been told to do. When a management doesn’t listen to the individual probably the worst motivation place to work with. Suggestions and idea being turn down or some employees may even get very little one-to-one time with their own manager. Take the time to meet with your team, listen to what they have to say and show that you’re willing to take reasonable action to resolve any issues.
4. You play favourites
It’s simply human nature that there will always be employees that you like more than others on a personal level. However, when you allow this preference to become apparent to your team for instance only showing praise to a few employees and neglecting the others, or enjoying social outings with a selected group – those who are not included will likely feel unwanted and worry about why they’ve been excluded from your eye. As a boss, favouritism is poisonous towards the team motivation which you have to avoid at all cost.
5. You are inconsistent
Everybody has their bad days, sometimes it is harder to hide your emotions especially if you are a manager but the more emotional inconsistent you are, the harder for you to win your employees trust and respect. If your employees have no idea which version of you is going to turn up today – they will feel anxious and uncertain of where they stand with you and their time will be spent guessing rather than focusing on their work.
6. You have ineffective leadership in your organisation
A common reason for employees leaving is lack of strong, consistent management. In most cases, some leader or manager has no core basic knowledge of the functional task or rely on their employees to carry the task completion. Doing this may point toward poor management in a certain area or even expose a wider problem especially trust and respect towards leadership.
One way to overcome weak leadership is to build up these skills in your employees or managers. Ensure that staff are equipped with skills that can foster leadership, like communication and inclusivity – it may involve additional on-going training, but is worth the effort.
The focus on employee engagement and putting priority in talent management investment will significantly increase productivity, retention and job satisfaction.
