“People leave bosses, not their companies.”

Almost every single one of us has heard this statement at some point, and it turns out to be true.

A Gallup study reported that at least 75 percent of US employees who have quit their jobs have done so to get away from their bosses.

 

People Don’t Just Work for Pay, They Need Much More

The number above contradicts what many employers think the reason why people leave is —the almighty salary.

Sure, the pay is important, but it doesn’t buy employee loyalty. According to Gallup, only 22 percent of respondents mentioned low salary as the reason for their exit.

For her part, Author Brigette Hyacinth said no matter how good a job may be, people will, almost always, quit if the reporting relationship is not healthy.

Hyacinth, in a LinkedIn post, identified four types of bad bosses that make employees want to quit.

  • Marionette – In an age of uncertainty, many managers are yielding to this trap of just playing it safe to preserve their position and privileges. They just follow orders. They never stand up for their team or question policies. They are mere puppets and exude no loyalty to employees. A lack of integrity in a manager can make an employee lose passion for the job.
  • King Kong – Some managers, when they reach the top, immediately forget where they came from. These types of managers possess a superiority complex and like to draw the distinction between management and staff. It is dreadful to work under a manager who is more worried about pushing their weight around than building relationships. Great leaders don’t talk down to their employees or make them feel inferior. Respect is a must.
  • Superman – They think the organization revolves around them. Some start behaving like they are the owners of the company. This trap includes making all of the decisions solo, ignoring feedback, and taking the credit. When employees don’t feel appreciated, morale, and engagement plummets.
  • Taskmaster – Their sole focus is on the bottom line. Continuously drilling employees is a sure way to make them unhappy at work. Micromanagement suffocates, demoralizes, and kills creativity. If you hired someone, it means you believe they are capable of doing the job. A manager’s job is to motivate and provide guidance and support. It’s not constantly monitoring an employee’s every movement.

No manager or supervisor wants to admit that they are the reason for their team’s issues. Which is why business owners need to look into what managers and supervisors are doing in the workplace to create or destroy employee engagement.

 

Communicate, Appreciate, and Inspire

The best leaders, no matter the salary employees are paid, will inspire loyalty and will retain the majority of their staff.

To build that loyalty, here are some ways to make your employees feel appreciated and valued on a broader scale, hence counter their plans to jump ship.

Communicate. Employees don’t necessarily have to be friends with their boss, but they need to have a relationship with them. This starts with two-way communication.

Two-way communication is when one person is the sender, and they transmit a message to another person, who is the receiver. When the receiver gets the message, they send back a response, acknowledging the message was received. What should be highlighted in this is the concept of feedback.

Appreciate. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, esteem is one of our most basic needs. When we appreciate and support the job well done of others, we make them feel good and boost their desire to do more good work.

“Appreciating someone does not make you less important or inferior. Your words of appreciation reveal your humble and generous nature. By appreciating others, your value does not depreciate! On the contrary, you look good in the eyes of others.”

—Ebrima Sawaneh

Inspire. Do the first two, and you will, for sure, inspire your people. Your reputation, character, and behavior will inspire people more than anything else. The only way to call the best out of others is to expect the best from yourself.

 

Don’t be the reason people leave your company. Be kind, and you will never be wrong.