Julia No company wants to have a reputation for having dissatisfied employees. Nevertheless, this does not happen that rarely: According to a labor market study, 35% of the office workers surveyed state that they are dissatisfied. To prevent dismissal, employers must evaluate the exact reasons for dissatisfaction and take effective countermeasures in good time.
The reasons for employee dissatisfaction are often homemade
Actually, you wanted to go through the planning for the next quarter with your top employee – he will inform you that he is leaving. And you fall from the clouds. When a valuable employee leaves, managers often ask: Could I have prevented this termination?
Of course, private reasons or a change request are never excluded – but the reasons why employees quit usually lie within the company itself.
The loss of good people hurts not only professionally, but also financially. After all, every change in personnel costs time and money – all the more important are employee retention measures.
Why do employees quit the jobs of their own accord?
In fact, superiors often have to touch their own nose: Lack of appreciation by the boss is one of the main reasons why employees leave.
Anyone who performs well every day but is not even worth a simple “thanks you” to their superior, will at some point get frustrated. Those who do not feel valued often complain about a lack of opportunities for advancement and quit as soon as they see the next step in the career ladder within reach.
Not to be neglected are the topics stress, overload and – interestingly – also under challenge in the job. Especially today, in times of digitization and strong digital change, the resilience of employees is being put to a tough test.
If the pressure is not adequately absorbed, the constant stress and overload are usually reasons for resignation.
So these are all reasons on which you as an employer have direct influence?
Those are definitely the decisive ones, yes. Of course, there are also reasons for termination that – at least at first glance – are outside of one’s own area of responsibility: For example, if a competitor lures the employee with an irresistible offer and they allow themselves to be lured away.
But even then, employers should ask: Why didn’t we see the employee’s value and improve it accordingly?
A salary that is too low makes a decisive contribution to the fact that good employees are unfaithful to their previous employer when they are offered appropriate offers.
An employee seems satisfied, everything is obviously great – and yet he suddenly quits. Do you know this phenomenon?
These are often exactly the reasons why customers come to us and request temporary workers. If everything seems to be fine, but the next moment the dismissal follows, only one thing can usually be concluded from this: that there was a weighty reason for the employee to leave the company.
Superiors often have a problem with perception. You may be very busy yourself right now and have no time to pay attention to the worries of your employees – which is of course unfavorable and should not be a permanent condition.
Or they close their eyes consciously or unconsciously, according to the motto: It won’t be that bad. There are usually clear warning signs of dissatisfaction among employees.
At which warning signals should the alarm bells ring?
For example, you can tell relatively well when an employee feels overloaded or stressed: They then call in sick more often, especially immediately before and after the weekends. Body language is also an important indicator of whether an employee goes about their work lively, committed and motivated, or whether they are constantly brooding and appear overwhelmed by the workload.
Besides, some employees have simply quit inwardly because of sheer dissatisfaction. They don’t care about anything – they don’t get involved in meetings, don’t make constructive suggestions, and no longer take part in team events.
You should also pay attention to signs that indicate that employees are actively preparing for a job change: He or she takes a single day of vacation now and then – maybe to introduce yourself somewhere else? -, evades if you want to discuss longer-term projects – or requires an interim reference. At the latest, that’s a wink with the fence post.
How can you prevent termination in these cases?
First of all, you should observe conspicuous behavior and take notes. Also, collect facts and clues, such as recent sick days. But that’s only one side of the coin. You should also question yourself critically :
What have you, as an employer, done or neglected to get the employee dissatisfied?
Then make an appointment with the employee. In the so-called stay interview, you should then express your suspicion quite openly and ask him whether he is actually considering the idea of resigning.
If that is the case, the next thing to consider is the reasons. Ask your employee about openness here – and mean it that way: You should be prepared and react constructively to criticism, including personal ones.
Because that’s what it’s actually about: You want to prevent the dismissal and keep the employee. If his job change plans are not too far advanced, you have a good chance of turning things around with the right measures.
Which specific measures are effective if you want to keep employees?
It always depends on the individual case. Basically, of course, you have to offer something and thus take a step towards the employee. If you listened carefully to the interview, you will know what is important to the employee.
What is wrong with his job, what goals does he have, what bothers him?
Employee retention often works through small things and doesn’t even have to be a major cost factor. Appreciation and motivation by you as a manager do not cost money, but are extremely valuable and can significantly improve the employee’s attitude.
Another example: The employee has lost his work-life balance, he feels permanently overloaded. Perhaps it can help to save him the time to travel to the office one or two days a week and to approve home office. Or you can add qualified temporary workers to your team to ease the workload.
Of course, you should also have an open ear for requests for more salary or more exciting tasks and benevolently check to what extent you can respond to them.
