Most companies strive to hire or promote someone with the right skills to do the job. But when hiring a manager, many fail to take the manager’s personality, attitude, values, and emotional intelligence into consideration.
What they end up with is a highly technically skilled manager with poor people skills, big ego, “my way or the highway” attitude, and blind spots the size of the Grand Canyon. And this error can affect the company’s turnover rate.
How managers affect employees’ decision to leave
When researchers at PsychTests, a provider of psychological assessment products, conducted a study on people who are actively looking for a new position, they found that difficulties with management played a major role in the decision to quit.
Analyzing data from 265 people who took PsychTests’ Turnover Probability Test, researchers focused on people who intend to leave their position in the immediate future and are proactively job searching.
When asked what role management played in their decision to leave, the PsychTests study revealed interesting results:
- 24 percent of soon-to-be quitters report that they don’t have a good relationship with their manager.
- 31 percent constantly feel like they need to “walk on eggshells” around their manager in order to avoid conflict.
- 45 percent note that helping employees succeed is not one of management’s priorities.
- 53 percent claim that management fails to acknowledge or recognize hard work/achievements.
- 53 percent indicate that any concerns or issues that are brought to management tend to fall on deaf ears and go unresolved.
- 55 percent feel that management makes promises to employees that they simply do not keep.
- 56 percent of soon-to-be quitters feel that their manager does not provide employees with sufficient opportunities to develop their skills.
- 24 percent indicate that their manager does not respect employees.
- 29 percent feel that the pace at which they are expected to work is too fast.
- 33 percent state that the demands placed on them are unreasonable.
- 40 percent assert that management doesn’t treat employees fairly.
- 42 percent report that the organization looks outside the company to fill management positions, rather than developing/promoting from within.
Retaining good staff is about more than increasing compensation
“These are eye-opening statistics, and they carry a clear message: Turnover isn’t limited to a desire for more money,” says Dr. Ilona Jerabek, president of PsychTests. “There are many factors that play a role in turnover, and the way in which a company is managed has a significant impact on an employee’s decision to stay or go.”
“We understand that giving employees everything they want simply isn’t feasible. For example, a company may not have the funds to pay an employee a salary that aligns with industry standards, or to offer bonuses on a regular basis. However, a good manager will recognize that there are other ways to show appreciation, like praise, gift cards, extra vacation time, flextime, benefits, etc. Unfortunately, our study reveals that only 22 percent of managers actually do this.”
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