Joel Garfinkle, writing for the SmartBlog on Leadership, says losing good people is usually not the result on underpaying them. Usually the reason they leave is because of “the environment at work.”
The executive coach and author of “Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level,” says: “There are many factors that contribute to an undesirable work environment, but they all have one thing in common: It’s the manager who creates the environment who is ultimately responsible for driving employees away.”
In a report called ”People don’t walk out on companies, they walk out on managers,” Garfinkle says: “To retain talent, managers must find ways to provide a workplace culture that promotes productivity while keeping employees challenged, stimulated and fulfilled.” He offers five tips for how to do that:
- Make work challenging.
- Empower your employees.
- Don’t overwork your employees.
- Ask them what they want.
- Show appreciation.
Of course, even the perfect manager is not going to completely eliminate turnover. When that happens, Garfinkle advises: “Make sure you take advantage of the opportunity to conduct exit interviews whenever employees leave. The reasons may have nothing to do with you, but if they do, you need to find out so you can take corrective action to keep from making the same mistakes again in the future.”
You know the old saw: It is always better to learn from our mistakes than to repeat them.