Many leaders talk about their people being the greatest asset to their organization. Although, if such were really the case, there would be a clear money trail and actions to prove it.
In reality, what most companies say they do and what they really do are two completely different things. Hence, we are taken to the following 5 reasons to why companies lose great talent:
- Terrible Recruiting Practices: For many companies, their recruiting practices go completely against the “core company values” that they write about on the homepage of their website. For example, you can’t say that you care about the fairness of opportunity, inclusion, or transparency, but then go and ghost a potential candidate. The top talent these days are going to businesses where they skip the hurdles, keep things simple and stay true to their word.
- Cutthroat or Club Culture: Culture is always driven from the top. When leaders value individuals results over collective results or productivity over health, that all trickles down. The result can often be a highly competitive and egotistic culture. When top employees find themselves in a negative culture, they simply move to a place where they can feel appreciated and do their best work.
- Short-term Thinking: When a company is plagued by short-term thinking, the best employees can see that if they stick around it’s only going to be a matter of time before they’re out of a job. While a company can usually scrape by with a short-term mindset in a good market, once a crisis hits, any business that fails to take risks, engage in different thinking, and begin testing new ideas for the long term will soon become a sinking ship. Many people will be surprised. However, the top talent will be long gone.
- Complacency: Like short-term thinking, many businesses are stuck in the past. Once a motivated and inspired employee hears the words, “that’s the way we’ve always done it” too many times, they’re soon looking for another organisation to add their input. Take note from companies like Kodak and Toys ‘R’ Us: those that don’t evolve won’t survive.
- Too Much Oiling of the Squeaky Wheel: A common practice in many companies is to overly accommodate for a difficult employee rather than improve them or fire them. What ends up happening is more work just gets piled on top of the best employees, and they don’t see any added recognition. After a period of time, they get frustrated by pulling all the extra weight and simply leave.