Why Do Our Team Members Quit?

By: Dr. Nels Lindberg, Production Animal Consultation

In the last week, have you overheard or joined in a discussion about the challenges of finding people to join your business and go to work? Maybe you have even talked about it today. For many of us, this seems to be a daily topic, especially from a consultant's point of view. If you were to ask me what the number one challenge talked about for feedyards is, I would say talent acquisition, or simply put, getting people hired to come to work.

We must understand people want to feel appreciated and to know that their work matters. We have to grow as leaders and start recognizing our team members.

I recently wrote an article about the hiring process. I am sure some of you read that article and thought, “This guy has lost his mind! I can’t even get people to apply, let alone go through a rigorous and intentional interview process.” After I wrote that article, it was the first thought that came to my mind too. I wrote this article as a follow up, to turn the focus from getting people to apply to reducing the number of people that quit. In my opinion, the “people” aspect is the number one factor considered by operations when deciding if they have the ability to expand or not.

To dig deeper, we must understand what the data say about why people quit their jobs. Gallup shows only 33% of employees are engaged at work. Why are the other 67% of our people not engaged? Consider the five following reasons, as revealed in a survey of over 25,000 employees around the globe in 2018:1

1. Poor management performance. According to the survey, “40% of employees that don’t rate their supervisor’s performance highly have interviewed for a new job in the last three months, compared to just 10% for those that do rate their supervisor highly.” 1,2 Have you ever left a job because a direct supervisor’s performance was poor? Because your supervisor could not be trusted or did not have your back? Because there was too much gossip or politics?

2. Lack of employee recognition. The survey showed “21.5% of employees that don’t feel recognized when they do great work have interviewed for a job in the last three months, compared to just 12.4% that do feel recognized.” 1,2

3. Overworked employees. Many of us reading this are hard workers, even workaholics, and hate the term “work-life balance”. We believe in leading by example and work just as hard and long as anyone. However, people ultimately crave work-life balance. It is very important, not only to them but also to their family. As Sam Cossio of Easterday Ranches says, “They come to work to get a paycheck to take care of their family.” Overworked team members probably do not have the time to adequately take care of their families.

4. Company culture is not a priority. “Employees who rate their culture poorly are 24% more likely to leave their organizations within a year’s time.” 1,2 This is so critical, as there are multiple studies showing that culture factors into a team member’s decision to leave or stay more than the benefits package. Even more importantly, “employees who say there’s a low level of respect between colleagues are 26% more likely to quit their jobs.” 1,2

5. No growth opportunities. “Employees who feel they are progressing in their career are 20 percent more likely to stay at their companies in one year's time. On the flip side, employees who don't feel supported in their professional goals are three times more likely to be looking for a new job.” 1

The real take-home point from these five reasons is our team members value real, authentic leadership and a healthy organizational culture. We need to be thinking about how we can focus on strategies that are people centered and not bottom line centered. Strategies that meet the needs of our people, allow for intentional team member recognition, create a healthy, caring culture, and demonstrate growth opportunities. Strategies that allow them to get home to and take care of their families. Such strategies will help us retain more people.

To dive just a little deeper, let’s focus on one practical action item, team member recognition. Again, Gallup shows only 33% of employees are engaged at work. That means that nearly 70% of our people are not engaged. Employee recognition is a significant factor in engagement. Can we agree that we should do more to recognize our people and their noble work? The data tell us we should. OC Tanner research says “79% of employees who quit their jobs claim that a lack of appreciation was a major reason for leaving.” 3 Additionally, “65% of Americans claimed they weren’t even recognized one time last year.” 3 Another study showed “82% of employees feel their supervisor doesn’t recognize them for what they do.” 3 Even more enlightening for all of us, “60% say they are more motivated by recognition than money.” 3

Fifteen years ago, I was just like many Gen Xers and Boomers. We worked our tails off and were never recognized for our efforts. We were just told to get to work and we did. The idea that we need to recognize our people with more than just a paycheck baffled me. But today, we must understand people want to feel appreciated and to know that their work matters. We have to grow as leaders and start recognizing our team members. Perhaps one of the following describes your justification for holding back recognition in the past.

1. Giving recognition is not natural. It is awkward and even difficult for us to do. But the more we do it, the easier it gets. Big or small, recognition creates motivation and a desire to do more of the recognized behavior. There is no need to make it complicated with spreadsheets and lots of numbers. Keep it simple and easily executed.

2. We fear people will come to expect it. To combat this, we must be intentional and purposeful about the recognition. It is up to us to identify intentional behaviors and purposeful goals, communicate them repeatedly with clarity, and recognize them. Recognition might be a pat on the back, an attaboy, a conversation of praise in front of their peers, a lunch, a $20 bill or even a $100 bill.

3. We are too busy to give recognition. At the end of the day, this is an empty excuse. Being grateful and thankful to your people is a behavior. Research shows it takes 66 days to change or break a habit.

1 https://www.illuminate-success.com/quit-job.html

Try being purposeful about giving out daily recognition for 90 days to rewire your brain in a new habit of being grateful. Do this so that recognition becomes automatic. It becomes just a part of the way we do things.

Good people are hard to find, but putting focus on keeping the excellent team members that we currently employ may be our greatest missed opportunity. Our labor situation will not get any easier, so we all need to think about our people strategies. We often complain about this topic and focus on the negative picture. Instead we need to paint a positive picture by looking at tactical strategy options for the lifeblood of our business. What can you do today? And what can you do for the next 90 days?

2 https://www.tinypulse.com/blog/13-surprising-statistics-about-employee-retention

3 https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/here-s-no-1-reason-why-employees-quit-their-jobs-ncna1020031