Top 5 Reasons Why Employees Quit and How to Prevent Them

Within any place of work, the desire to maintain a happy environment is shared by the workforce at large. No matter what job role they occupy, it’s in everyone’s interest to strive towards creating a positive atmosphere at work. It just makes everyone’s lives easier!

However, it’s impossible to keep everyone happy all of the time. A natural part of a company lifecycle is that employees leave. Don’t take it personally. People’s lives and circumstances change and, when we spend so much of our day at work, there are a variety of reasons why people decide it’s time to move on.

Despite this, there are things that can be done to mitigate that number of employees who leave. It’s important to understand the reasons why employees quit before you start trying to put measures in place to prevent them.

#1.  They feel undervalued

It’s a natural human desire to want to feel valued by the people around us. This reassures us that we are essential and not just a spare part. This applies to many areas of our life, from relationships to our jobs.

When an employee starts to feel undervalued, it can eat away at their workplace mentality. Often, salary defines value. If an employee is aware they can get a better salary at another company, this epitomizes their feeling of being undervalued at their current workplace.

What You Can Do:

If an employee approaches you to ask for a raise, take this request seriously. Don’t just dismiss it as if they’re getting too big for their boots. Do your market research to see what other competitive salaries are being offered for similar or equivalent jobs.

You also need to weigh up the cost of going through the hiring and training process for a new employee. Ultimately, if satisfying your employees’ request means they will stay with you, and they’re a longer-term employee with a full understanding of your business, then it’s a no-brainer.

#2. They desire a healthier work-life balance

We all have lives outside of work, and everyone’s life is different. With a workforce of varied individuals, you’re going to have a team at many different stages in their life, and you need to be accommodating of this.

Nowadays, wellbeing is a hot topic, and a strong work-life balance is a huge part of this. With generations such as Millennials and Gen Z approaching full-time work, it’s important to consider how the working environment has changed over recent years and what is being offered to them.

What You Can Do:

There are many different ways you, as an employer, can offer a stronger work-life balance. Not every option out there is suitable for every business, but they are worth considering.

For example, more flexibility over working hours may offer your employees the freedom they need to manage their work-life balance more effectively. This can also be beneficial to their performance at work. In a recent report into the technology sector, 89% said that flexible working motivated them to be more productive at work.

#3. They feel worn out

Being over-worked leads to exhaustion and a severe lack of enthusiasm and motivation. These are good things to look out for as early warning signs to indicate employees who might be feeling worn out.

It isn’t always the case that employees who are worn out feel that way because of work. There are some contributing factors that can lead member of your workforce handling deflated or unmotivated. However, it’s important to establish whether or not their job is making them feel that way.

What You Can Do:

As a manager or employer, you must be careful not to over-step the line when it comes to understanding why your workforce feel worn out. By implementing regular meetings or informal catch-up sessions with your employees, you can get a more accurate sense of how people are feeling.

Try keeping the conversation focused around workload. This will help to establish whether there is a member of your workforce feeling overworked, which could indicate why they feel worn out. It will also give you a truer picture of who your key, hardworking employees are and who has the capacity to share the workload where others may be struggling.

#4. They aren’t progressing

Progression, improvement, and growth are beneficial for a whole host of reasons. Allowing individuals to learn new skills expands and strengthens your business. It also encourages people to grow, to push themselves and to reap the rewards of hard work.

When, in a workplace environment, an employee feels that they aren’t being given the opportunities they need to grow and improve this can lead to a lack of motivation. If an employee feels that the business isn’t invested in developing them, they are likely to look for other companies who will.

What You Can Do:

There are immediate and obvious ways that you can grow employees and help them to progress. Courses, online training, and conferences that focus on specific skills and areas can directly give individuals the growth they are looking for. Plus, they can utilize and apply their new skills to their job!

Another way to encourage progress is to widen an individual’s job role to include new responsibilities. This helps to prevent them from becoming stagnant. Some employees may be resistant to the idea of gaining more responsibility, whereas others will relish the challenge. Try to understand your workforce and the individuals within it to give them what they need.

#5. They have lost the meaning in their job

With the amount of time we spend at work, many of us want to feel like we’re doing something meaningful with that time. That can take many forms at the end of the day, but making a difference is important to attributing value.

Not everyone is in the position to save the world, but that doesn’t mean that what they do isn’t important. Every employee is there and is contributing, and that is meaningful in its own right.

What You Can Do:

As an employer and manager, you need to make sure that your employees see and understand that what they do contributes to the bigger picture. Although it may be obvious to you, that isn’t always the case with those that do the job on a daily basis.

Wherever possible, give praise for good work that has been recognized by you or other members of the team. This is the perfect way of demonstrating the work they do and how it affects others. This immediately attributes meaning and value, and by giving more regular, positive reinforcement, they will respond positively too.

Despite these efforts, employees will still quit and move on to new jobs. The important thing to do is try and create a positive working environment for every person that passes through the business. By doing this, you are developing and nurturing a workplace this is desirable and, soon enough, people will be leaving their jobs to join your team!