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Why Is Your Top Talent Leaving?

You’ve secured terrific employees for your team, some of the best in the industry who seem poised to not only do well, but bring the company up because of their talent. Things are looking up…and then, within the next eight months, two of them leave. You conduct the exit interviews, but don’t really get much in the way of response. They don’t want to seem impolite or, frankly, burn any bridges. You thought you had measures in place for retaining and developing talent. So why did they leave?

  • They felt unchallenged. If you put the best mind in your company into a position where she doesn’t get to flex those cranial muscles, she’ll get bored and want to go somewhere that allows her to do something different, something new. This delves into creativity as well. Your talented workers want the opportunity to unleash that talent in ways that improve and innovate; they want to put their own mark on their work. If they feel creatively stifled, they’ll seek it elsewhere.
  • They had a difficult boss. Want to turn your top performers away? Saddle them with an unpleasant, overly demanding, patronizing, micromanaging or uncommunicative manager — or some combination thereof. As the saying goes, “People leave managers, not companies.” And that’s often true. So, as a manager, take a hard look at yourself. Do you do any of those things? Do you allow employees to approach you with problems, concerns or new ideas? Long gone are the days of the manager sending out tasks from on high while the minions scurry to do his bidding. If a manager doesn’t have a good working relationship with his employees, he’ll lose them quickly.
  • They feel stuck. Your best employees want to have opportunities to do more and be more. They want to move ahead in their careers, financially, and personally. Any quality employee who doesn’t see a chance for some sort of advancement will seek it out elsewhere, so make sure you truly offer chances for employees to stretch their boundaries and move beyond them…and make sure you haven’t inadvertently put up any roadblocks that will make your good employees feel stifled.
  • They feel unappreciated. Sure, there’s the concept right now that a certain age group of employees want recognition and pats on the head for simply doing what they need to do. But your star employees tend to work really hard, and a lack of acknowledgement of that effort goes a long way toward their decision to stay or leave. So the next time one of your top workers really comes through, show them you appreciate them through a financial bonus, a public thank-you, a free lunch on the company or a simple and heartfelt thank you for the effort.

When you take care of your top talent, they take care of you. It’s a two-way street, especially if you want to keep them happy and content where they are. If you want to find your next star employee, reach out to the experienced CA recruiting professionals at PrideStaff Thousand Oaks today.

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