7 Reasons Why Employees Leave

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such as Teekay Shipping Corporation and Maersk. Upon

completing 3 months at ABC, he began complaining about his bosses commanding that

employees work in the after-­hours from home. After a 10-­hour day at the office, he

would remain busy at his home responding to calls and emails from on-­going projects,

which were often overseas. Therefore, the time-­difference took a toll on his sleep. He

and his team not only completed assignments, but also exceeded expectations in an

excellent manner, as the results proved. However, the bosses had a very

unappreciative, and nonchalant attitude towards them. No matter how good one is at

their jobs, a bad boss with a big ego will suppress any growth. Being unappreciated

when one has performed well leads to low morale, negative feelings and a reluctance to

take more initiative at work. Over time, he began exhibiting all these characteristics, and

only performed the tasks that merely satisfied his role. In other words, he was not

motivated to take a greater initiative anymore. As we have learned from Branham’s

Chapter 3: Why The Leave, two of the four fundamental needs were not being met in

this situation, 1. The need to feel worthy and respected and 2. The need to feel

competent as one gains mastery. Seeing that my uncle no longer went out of his way to

solve issues or take on more assignments than required, his bosses began perceiving

him and his team as sluggish, and incompetent. Much like in the previous case with

Smith, there was a trigger event for my uncle as well. As the fiscal year end

approached, his bosses subtly threatened that his team’s annual bonus may be

slashed. He was shocked to hear that not only were him and his team underappreciated

for majority of the year, but now the bonuses are uncertain. Unhappy with his bosses,

and thinking that work-­life balance would be better elsewhere, he applied for a company

transfer to their Houston Headquarters. After this transition, I have personally noticed

changes in his life, and he has developed a strong camaraderie with his colleagues and

managers at the Houston office.

On the other side of the spectrum, skeptics of this phenomenon would argue that

people leave the company for reasons primarily that have nothing to do with

management. Some may even propose that the company’s reputation is built by its

people, and therefore the two are symbiotically related. Simply put, in order to keep the

reputation and figures desired, the company may employ whatever managers and

approaches they deem necessary, even if that is at the expense of employees. While

that may prove successful in the short run, it is superficial, as in the long run, when

employees feel stressed, devalued, and demotivated, it hurts the company’s bottom line

and slowly erodes its reputation. This is evident in studies conducted by The Saratoga

Institute, which stated that, if a mid-­sized firm with 300 employees, an average salary of

$35,000 and 15% yearly turnovers, on average loses of $1.2 billion per year as a result

of disengaged employees! Furthermore, contrary to management beliefs, turnover is not

an unavoidable cost of doing business as employees are willing to let go of monetary

incentives for more rewarding experiences and emotional connections are their current

workplace. Branham advocates that simply listening to their employees, Management

could drastically improve retention and avoid unnecessary costs.

Ultimately, what one can learn from Branham’s work “The 7 Hidden Reasons

Why Employees Leave,” is that employee disengagement is the number one cause of

productivity loss in the American workforce. Branham firmly believes and takes any

chance he gets to remind readers of the psychological process which leads to

employees quitting. This is a process “that can take days or even years” (Branham 11)

and there are innumerable reasons that answer the why, yet almost all are connected to

the fundamental aspects such as emotions, motivation, ethics and values that people

uphold in a company.

In conclusion, the anecdotes in previous paragraphs a drop in the bucket of the

millions of employee exit stories across America, proving that most employees quit due

to multiple management related issues. A quote that resonates with every story

however, is that “some quit and leave… others quit and stay” (Anonymous).