2 Things that make top achievers leave.

First let me say there are many reason why employees leave. Some are very common, others not so common and some just plain anomalies.

So I heard about a few different scenarios recently that got me thinking. First, yet another high profile industry leader left for their smaller less developed yet promising rival.

This was big news considering they were an impact player and a primary innovator in some of the products that have made the company what it is over the years. The person declined to comment publicly but rumors have surfaced that there was a bit of disrespect involved that led to the final push to "make the change".

This is interesting because the company (to outsiders) appears to have a good culture, decent pay and long term stability.

The second scenario was a family friend that recently (with hesitation) took another job in a city a few hours away. After he had accepted he went in to put his two week notice and his current employer said "Hey, there's no way we are going to lose you!" and gave him a counter offer that was even better than the initial offer. Needless to say he accepted the counteroffer and stayed.

Now many people I talk to think that candidates play "funny games" or "just was not serious about the opportunity to begin with" when they accepted the counter offer (I can understand their frustration especially if there was time invested into wooing the candidate in the first place).

I soon realized that the two common reasons that slowly but surely (like a cancer) make even the most "dedicated" top employees leave are:

1. Disrespect

In my position I get to talk to everybody. I talk to the secretary, the assistant, the engineer, the salesman, the project manager, the supervisor, the crew chief, the manager, the foreman, the department head, the analyst, the accountant, the regional director, the owner the president the CEO and the board member. Each see's things from their own place in the ladder.

I have noticed that most industries inherently have "degrees of separation" between the ranks. However the one unifying factor that transcends all ranks is RESPECT. Now one may think "C'mon really! Respect". Professionals respect each other! That is why it is called "Professional Conduct".

Now for most companies this is true, however, just to be clear. I am NOT talking about the companies that are obvious no go's.

To be even more clear, I am talking about the scenarios where "of all people I never thought _________ would leave". They were doing so well and they always told me that they are happy.

And for that instance in time they were. However I have heard of many a scenario that were "contributing factors" to most people’s decision and furthermore, most of these were "subtle", but very consistent, like background music.

There does not have to be shocking rudeness. Just that one employee that seems needlessly to like to put a person’s ideas down instead of dismiss them or analyze them (something constructive) when they may seem farfetched. Or the "smart mouth" that never crosses the line but ALWAYS "pushes the envelope". Or the "Practical Joker" that seems always be the one laughing harder at their pranks than their peers. Or the manager that seems to have a "bad attitude" that everyone can clearly see and warns everyone "Bills at it today!"(but wait, it's just on occasion, you know like when he does not get enough sleep or something). Or Suzy gets to be a downer if your around her for too long.

You should get rid of or replace disrespectful people.

So replace them you say! The difficulty lies in talent acquisition. Because, the people that have some kind of undesirable "character trait" are in fact most of the time good workers. Therein lies the difficulty. Why fix what isn't broke?

That's just it, when small work environment irritations persist they, like a cancer, will if not immediately than eventually do great damage.

Let me share these quotes for you to reflect upon:

"People don't leave companies, they leave managers" - Unknown

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” - Ovid

"It is cheaper to replace one bad apple, than the whole bunch" - Debated

"Consider research on bad apples and team effectiveness by Will Felps, Terence R. Mitchell and Eliza Byington. They examined the impact of team members who were deadbeats ("withholders of effort"), downers (who "express pessimism, anxiety, insecurity and irritation") and jerks (who violate "interpersonal norms of respect"). An experiment by Mr. Felps found that having just one slacker or jerk in a group can bring down performance by 30% to 40%." (quoted front he article below, a MUST read for anyone in a supervisory role).

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203499704576622550325233260

2. Compensation

Now this one seems to be a no brainer right! People need to be paid well if you want to keep them. But here in lies a myriad of "Consideration points".

Here are some that actually matter: position budget, profitability of dept.+  company, annual losses, next year’s forecast, bonuses, overtime, vacation/PTO, peer pay equality (more to do with management) and lastly, market competitiveness.

Those are some of the points I notice run through most professionals head when talking about comp. However, there is an element to those that is missing. The personal expense one. Let's be plain here (as opposed to politically correct), most professionals don't "bring their personal life into the office" or at the least manage to keep it to a minimum. However, this is a topic of great importance.

The cost of living is ever rising, but (believe it or not, I do because I have heard it first hand) in most instances raises are not keeping up with the ACTUAL rise, of the cost to create "recognition of value".

Example, Inflation was 3% last year. You got a 3% raise.

"Wow, with this raise I can now take an actual vacation (nope), or I can finally buy that new car I have been eyeing because that extra cash monthly will cover the payment (nope) other than, yay, I get to keep my job and not miss any payments on my bills there is no actual increase in pay (which the "Talent Always Expects", Trust me, I have heard it enough times).

Why is that, well it's because inflation mimics compounding interest in its increase.

Two decent explanations of how compounding works:

https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/managing-your-money/saving/compound-interest

Simply put, all living expenses do not inflate/compound equally.

And you cannot just think, oh well, I gave them a 4% raise last year, a 3% the year before that, 6% before that. Hey that's a 13% increase from when they started. Again, it is Compounding, so you cannot just "stack" those numbers on top of each other.

For instance, this year gas went to a real low point. Man what a relief to the gas budget. For some it probably freed up a good 200-300$ monthly, but wait, health Ins. costs are going up, and so did s few other staple services. So that relief was now swallowed up and over powered.

Are you following? Do you see the disconnect here? We are talking about the top players that "make it happen" for your company/dept.

Like for instance, my friend in the second story above had no grievances about his job. He actually liked it. But, the other offer was so much higher that he couldn't turn it down.

Well, here are the gritty details that professionals usually "don't bring in to work with them". My friend and his wife both work, they have two children, a house payment and bunch of other expenses that most families have, but, in order to make ends meet, he had to take a part time job as well. The offer would allow him quit his second job & give him an actual "Pay Raise Benefit" he could use.

Here is the most interesting part, when he put his two week notice in, his CURRENT employer gave him a counteroffer that actually beat the initial offer.

So after accepting the counter offer a conversation came up between him and a colleague at work, he indicated how surprisingly pleased he was at the counter offer and the colleague commented "Oh, that's how it goes around here. If they like you and want to keep you, they'll pay you to stay".

Now, if only this were a one-off situation, but it is not. Here's another example: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/04/17/i-got-ripped-off-at-my-annual-review/#7597b15f4725

Then, again, I run into these scenario's on a regular occasion. It still does not make sense to me that managers will hold back pay, ESPECIALLY for their TOP talent. Go figure, do they want them to be recruited out or better yet, leave of their own? I don't know but, a little more on top, can keep the top healthy and happy.

So here's the deal

A small problem can easily become a big one (when left unattended), If you have a sore spot in your team, become proactive and then you will not have to be reactive and lose money with empty positions. Again, it's cheaper to replace 1 than the whole. And, avoiding "Conflict" and bring a "Catastrophe"

Also, even talented people have lives/families/bills/expenses/dreams. Don't wait until that dreaded day they put in their notice to recognize it. Meet with them, ask questions, connect on a human level and get them to drop their guard and get the truth. And then, PAY THEM WELL. Talented people are usually pretty intelligent. It will not take them too long to figure out that there is someone that WILL pay them what they are worth.

Being intuitive and proactive when it comes to HR matters pays great dividends!