As a boss or business owner, have you ever wondered why your employees keep submitting resignation emails and leaving the company? Theoretically, we have something here that can help you answer the question!
1. Leadership — “Employees don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses”
In order to provide employees the best place to work, some companies might invest a lot of money in offering a competitive compensation and benefit system or even build a fancy office with luxury equipment for the teams. However, money cannot buy everything in this case — money will not help you to retain good employees if you provide them 24/7 bad bosses. We can not deny the fact that the bad behaviors of the bosses will lead to the poor employee engagement. Some famous bad behaviors can be mentioned here such as micro-managing, ignoring feedback, not standing up for employees, taking the credit for team member’s work, etc.
The leadership team is a bridge between the company and its employees. CEO, COO, CSO, C-whatever letters, Managers— Do they act as your ambassador to deliver messages of the company’s mission, vision, aspirations? The junior/fresh candidates might choose the company to work simply based on the perks, but for the senior one, they will want to work for an interesting boss. How to define this “interesting”? — It depends on each person’s preferences, but normally, people will be impressed and inspired by the “fire”, or, the ambition of the leader for the company mission. Is the “fire” flickering like a candle, or the “fire” inside the leader is strong enough to lighten up the night?
2. Talent centric
Vietnamese have an idiom that says “Gió tầng nào gặp mây tầng đó,” similar to “Birds of a feather flock together.” Companies will have to invest in developing their employer brand to attract talent or make the candidates fall in love with the company at first sight. Salary is a condition for selecting a job, but being part of the right company culture is also important for talented members. Normally, work will occupy 1/3 time of a person’s lifetime, so it can be seen that they can not commit and devote 1/3 of their life to a company which is not fit with them.
A leader should always consider providing elite members with the 3 most important things: a desirable mission to work for, a proper income to survive in big cities, and a development and growth opportunity. If we only focus on developing the external branding image and avoid taking care of the issues lying at the root of the tree — the internal people management system, which includes career and development, performance management, rewards, and recognition, then sooner or later, your favorite employees will leave as they can not find their future along with the company’s development.
3. The work
Why did an employee select this company instead of the other one? An interesting boss, good company branding, and talent focus play an important role in employee engagement, but the work itself is also a predictor. The factors related to the work include the work tasks, the empowerment, the collaboration, and the work/life balance. Empowerment is important. We all know that people need to feel appreciated, respected, and included. Empowerment will help the employees understand that their work is important and they have the ability to perform tasks successfully. Without empowerment, the best you can expect from employees who work for you is just compliance.
In conclusion, an employee’s engagement level will always be connected to the leaders, the talent-centric mindset of the leader, and the work itself. An engaged employee will always strive for success in their job, always say positive things about the company to their colleagues and customers, and they will have an intense sense of belonging and always desire to be a part of the company.