This article has implications for organisational design, remuneration policies, motivational issues and more.
The main point of this well-written article is encapsulated in the title of this post: even if a company is prestigious, pays its employees well, trains them well and provides good career prospects, employees often leave because their immediate supervisors don't treat them well.
I think what is most important here is that supervisors have a direct and daily impact on their immediate subordinates. One's salary once known is a relatively fixed expectation that should neither incentivise nor demotivate an employee. So an overbearing boss has a much greater impact than other positive influences. Conversely, I believe it is often possible for a great boss to make up for deficiencies in other areas.
The bit that really hit home in this article was:
It isn't the 100th blow that knocks a good man down. It's the 99 that went before.
Another nugget focused on the loss to the company from the departure of an employee. Apart from the financial costs of replacing the dearly departed, the article highlights
...the loss of the company's reputation. Every person who leaves a corporation then becomes its ambassador, for better or for worse. We all know of large IT companies that people would love to join and large television companies few want to go near. In both cases, former employees have left to tell their tales.
More than anything else, I am creating this post to remind myself how to treat any of my own future subordinates. I don't want to be the author's next case study!
Link: Why they leave
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