The Real Reason Good Employees Quit

Here is an excerpt from an article by Liz Ryan for Forbes magazine. To read the complete article, check out others, and obtain subscription information, please click here.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

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When you find a better job than the one you have now, the number one thing you want to do is slide out the door without causing any fuss.

There is no benefit whatsoever for a departing employee to share any more truth about their reasons for leaving than “I got an offer I couldn’t turn down!” and that’s why we hear this cliche so often.

Of course there is more to the story than “I got an offer I couldn’t refuse!” but the employer who has shoved the employee out the door by ignoring their needs, taking them for granted or outright mistreating them does not deserve to hear the full story.

They missed their chance to get your free consulting advice.

They had the opportunity to listen to you the whole time you worked for them.

One of the biggest problems in the working world is that an invisible, impermeable wall can build up between what employees would love to say and what the leadership team can stand to hear.

When you work for a company that is not interested in your opinion, you can tell. They make it obvious. Once you know in your gut that your boss is not interested in your opinion, what other choice do you have than to find another job?

Nobody can or should stay in an organization that doesn’t value them or their observations.

The fake reason good employees leave their jobs is “An amazing job offer flew in from left field and fell in my lap” and if you believe that story, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

People do not want to job-hunt. It’s a huge pain in the neck. They resist it. They rationalize their boss’s bad behavior or their company’s draconian HR policies. They try as hard as they can to make it work.

They are pushed to start job-hunting by countless slights and insults that build up over time.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.

Liz Ryan: “I was a Fortune 500 HR SVP for 10 million years, but I was an opera singer before I ever heard the term HR. The higher I got in the corporate world, the more operatic the action became. I started writing about the workplace for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1997. Now I write for LinkedIn and Forbes.com and lead the worldwide Human Workplace movement to reinvent work for people.

To check out her book, Reinvention Roadmap: Break the Rules to Get the Job You Want and Career You Deserve, please click here.

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