Why employees leave ?

Humans have a curious temperament. They need to be part of a group and, yet, at the same time, stand out and be different.

The need to be accepted as part of a group is a fundamental need that we all carry in our genes. It originates from the time when we came down from the trees and began competing for food and habitat with other predators such as lions, wild dogs, and other ferocious animals. The early humans did not have advanced weapons, which made it essential that in such hostile environments they worked as a team not only for a successful kill but also for survival. This enforced teamwork eventually led to the formation of ‘circles of trust,’ working together to achieve common objectives like hunting, migrating safely, setting up habitats, and generally looking out for one another. Indeed, their very survival depended on being accepted into a group. In today’s context, we see this team or group formation around work projects and other common interests.

At the other end of the spectrum is the need to be appreciated, to stand out, to be special. This is also an extremely basic human need. It boosts our self-esteem, our ego, and our sense of being important. It makes us feel valuable. This is easily signaled by giving special attention to a particular person or handing out doses of appreciation in various forms to the chosen one(s). But making a person stand out also isolates them from their group, team, or circle of trust. It may even lead to jealousy and resentment. And that could be fatal for the person’s identification with their group, their belongingness.

Which brings me back to the notion that appreciation is a double-edged sword to be used judiciously and with extreme caution.

The final point was about the lack of adequate revisions in compensation. On this, I can say with total honesty that I have yet to meet a person, man, woman, or child, who was satisfied with what they had. Be it house, car, toy, salary, office, jurisdiction, or how far they could throw a ball. The list goes on. It is never enough. Hence, regular increases in compensation also could not really be the reason why one would not change employers.

Ok, so that was about refuting my fellow contributor’s notion about what made people leave employers. Now a few words about what it is that make people stay.

The simple fact of the matter is that people will not leave if they are getting what they need. Not what they want, but what they need. So, for any employer to retain people, what is required is to find out what is needed. As simple as that. But then again, not quite that simple.

What does a person really need?

For the answer, I go to Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, presented pictorially (see diagram) as a pyramid that shows the six essential needs of a person in decreasing order of necessity as we move up the pyramid. Bottom up, the needs are physiological, safety and security, acceptance and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization.

The bottom two levels of physiological and safety needs are not relevant for this discussion. Any person who is working in an organization can be assumed to have a reasonably high level of fulfillment in these needs. That leaves the top three levels covering social, ego, and actualization needs.

The first of the upper three levels deals with the need of a person to belong, to be accepted, and to be connected (remember when we were talking about the need to be accepted as a part of a group as a fundamental need?). This would be the first need fulfillment that a person would seek, and if their working environment adequately provided this, there would not be any immediate or urgent compulsion to leave.

As an aside, if an organization wanted a person to leave, all it would need to do is to make that person feel unwelcome and unwanted—unaccepted.

After the need for belonging has been fulfilled, the next need that arises is the need for self-esteem, respect, being recognized for specific achievements, accorded a status, and provided a freedom to judge—the next level of the pyramid. It shows that people who have accepted him also believe in him. Here too, if a person is given responsibilities and the freedom to perform, there would be even lesser reason to quit.

The final level of need is to be able to be in competition with only one’s own self. Where one tries to grow beyond what one is today. This need is more of a self-fulfillment need than one that can be satisfied by an environment. However, if a person can find this in their place of work, there would be almost no reason why they would ever want to leave.