It often happens that an employee begins to doubt their workplace, and high tension and overwhelming difficulties lead them to consider changing jobs. According to Lukas Kulikauskas-Maršantas, head of the “Mostai” organization and team development expert, an employee’s departure from an organization is rarely unexpected, as such a decision is often preceded by problems that have been accumulating for a long time, according to a “Mostai” press release.
“People rarely leave a job for just one reason. Salary is important, but it is not the only factor determining the decision to close the company’s doors. Behind the departure often lie experiences accumulated over a longer period – this can be the relationship with the manager, the work environment and culture, excessive workload, or limited growth opportunities.
Recent employee turnover studies show that among the main reasons for leaving remain precisely the lack of career opportunities, leadership, and work environment issues. Therefore, employee turnover should not be viewed solely as a salary issue. A person evaluates their entire work experience: whether they are trusted, whether they can develop, whether their opinion is heard, whether the workload allows sustainable work, and whether they see their future in the organization. Compensation can be the last straw, but often many more signals have already accumulated that the organization failed to notice in time,” he lists.
The expert emphasizes that some departures could be avoided if managers paid more attention to the employee. According to him, managers often fail to notice clear signs indicating a sudden onset of employee apathy and the first hints of leaving the job.
Managers often fail to notice quite clear signs.
“Usually, it is not individual signals that are overlooked, but quietly accumulating changes. From experience, I see that managers often fail to notice quite clear signs: the employee starts to engage less, offers ideas less frequently, or simply does just enough, also no longer argues, objects, or asks why one or another decision was made. The person may communicate less with the team, no longer participate in informal activities, their energy changes, and sometimes there may be more professional activity outside, for example, updating the LinkedIn profile.
Of course, such signals do not necessarily mean that the employee has already decided to leave. However, they may indicate that the connection with the organization is weakening. It is especially worth paying attention to seemingly innocent remarks, for example, – “sometimes I wonder if this is my place?”. Such statements often go unnoticed, although they may contain much more than it seems at first glance. Therefore, managers usually overlook not the signal itself but the change,” says L. Kulikauskas-Maršantas.
How much does a company lose with a departing employee?
The head of the “Mostai” organization and team development expert states that an employee’s departure has greater consequences for the company than just a vacant position. At this stage, the entire team’s workload changes, and some of the departing person’s functions and responsibilities are temporarily taken over by colleagues.
“When an employee leaves, the company loses much more than just one job position. For example, in the public sector, non-governmental, or small organizations, one person is often an entire function: the only project manager or the only person who knows the funding rules. In such a case, not just part of the knowledge is lost, but the entire competence, so the loss is proportionally greater than in a large company.
Employee turnover also directly affects those who remain in the organization. When a person leaves, their work and responsibilities do not disappear for a while – colleagues have to take them over, so their workload may increase, tension may arise, and there may be less time for core tasks,” the interlocutor explained.
What can managers do to retain an employee?
L. Kulikauskas-Maršantas emphasizes that managers should pay more attention not only to employee engagement, expectations, and working conditions but also to how communication with people is conducted within the organization. According to him, simply collecting a survey is not enough – what happens afterward with the received answers, how declared values are reflected in daily decisions, and how changes occurring in the organization are explained to employees are much more important.
“A manager’s job is not to collect answers but to create a conversation in which the employee forms them. This is the logic of developmental leadership – the responsibility for the answer remains with the person, and the manager is responsible for the question and what happens afterward. And this is a competence, not goodwill. Organizations invest in surveys but not in the manager’s ability to conduct such a conversation – therefore, we have a lot of data but little change.
The second thing is values. Not five on the wall, but one that is worked on all year: how it looks when making decisions, hiring, firing, during meetings. People leave not because the organization lacks values, but because the declared and experienced everyday reality differ.
The third is communication about changes. Turnover increases during changes not because of the change itself but because its meaning and value to the person are not explained. What is changing is almost always told, but why and what it means to the employee is much less often,” the expert advised.
