Why Do Employees Really Resign? Exploring the Top Three Reasons Behind Departures

Why Resigned? 3 Most Important Reasons

This topic is a very common and important question that arises when anyone decides to resign or depart from a company.

Only three reasons are behind the scene:

First – Family and Location

Second - Cultural Behavior of the Company

Third – Seniors or Reporting Managers

3. Let’s begin with the third one first. In most cases, 80% resign due to behavior issues with their seniors or reporting managers.

2. In rare cases, 10% resign due to the second reason. Every good and employee-empowered company has policies and procedures to perform at their best; it’s all about company culture.

1. In the rarest of cases, 10% resign due to family and location issues. Many good companies love and believe in relocating their employees to their home locations.

Now, the gap is almost clear.

Instead of a high attrition rate, companies are required to manage their employees with proper staff engagement activities, jointly with their colleagues, seniors, and reporting managers.

“Good points - Seniors or reporting managers have a high level of confidence, energy, and thought process. The concept of 'Boss is always right' makes seniors behave like a boss. They have their own reputation in front of staff, colleagues, and the company.”

But there should always be a soft corner for their juniors, colleagues, and employees. Most of the time, junior employees hesitate to ask repeated questions, doubts, and concepts to their reporting managers due to behaviors like the way they look, talk, answer doubts or questions, or shout in front of staff. Seniors must understand that performance is teamwork, and it will be zero if the junior team does not work or perform.

Seniors should proactively participate and answer their junior employees and colleagues for any doubts or questions related to assigned work or tasks.

Good time should be spent with vertical junior employees or colleagues. Juniors will perform more actively if they feel independent and in a familiar work environment.

Maybe a junior will become a boss if taught by a boss. So, behavior must be like a boss, not annoyed.

A mature, perfect bonding plays the biggest role with employees after success.

A boss who creates another boss.

Regards,
Praveen Tripathi

It is not just about the three; it goes beyond these three and challenges the limits for sustainability and growth. When an organization has someone at the helm who cannot make decisions, it is the juniors who suffer. In such cases, there seems to be no remedy. The ill-educated not only malign the junior but also make their life miserable.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Sexual harassment knows no bounds; both seniors and juniors can be victims or perpetrators. Survival in the face of such issues becomes a delicate balance, affecting life profoundly.

Influence of Relatives in the Organization

Relatives of the boss, such as the wife, brothers/sisters, and other close associates of the organization, even if not formally related, create difficult situations. The sufferers are aware of the truth and await relief.

Nurturing Internal Talent

An organization that neglects nurturing internal talent while idolizing external figures cannot expect accountable or meaningful contributions from its employees. The sense of humiliation pervades...

Those who understand the true situation can create a conducive environment, while the impact of other bosses, good or bad, plays out, influencing growth accordingly. These outcomes are unpredictable.

Best of luck. In parentheses, numbers may be limited, but human nature and attitude are not.

Regards

An unhappy work atmosphere and poor managers are among the most important reasons why employees quit.

In such organizations, the employees feel totally unappreciated and lose their motivation to continue. The person looks around for jobs and leaves.

Organizations should try to provide a level playing field for people to work and offer a supportive hand in their work. This will make employees stay back and contribute to the growth of the company.

I really agree with you guys. When the work atmosphere is not encouraging for junior-level employees to develop their skills and there is no appreciation for their inputs, these employees start to look elsewhere for better prospects. Many times, it is the middle-level managers who do not know how to treat their juniors due to their own insecurities and lack of confidence. It is the top management who should take the initiative to create and implement policies whereby all new and junior employees are nurtured and encouraged to express their talents so that they can be utilized in a capacity that will bring out the best in them. In the long run, it is the company that will benefit. "Every man/woman is worthy of their wages." Keeping this in mind, everyone's contribution, no matter how small, should be recognized and appreciated.

"Many a time, it is the middle-level managers who do not know how to treat their juniors due to their own insecurities and lack of confidence."

This is very true. I have personally seen cases where a manager is worried about the smartness and quickness of a junior and feels insecure that the junior will outshine them. Managers should have a friendly approach while being professional and nurture newcomers to rise to their potential. A simile can be drawn with the story from the Holy Mahabharata - Drona and Eklavya. But this is a story of human frailties, and such things do happen. Weak and jealous managers are also a part of the management story as much as brilliant juniors, and vice versa. Higher management needs to keep an eye on exits and monitor from time to time.

The basic reason, I would say, is people not giving respect to their fellow human beings. The reasons we often identify for people leaving organizations are an offshoot of the aforementioned behavior. Arrogance and sycophancy are viral, especially when they emanate from the senior management. Everyone is intelligent, and today there are options around. No amount of gimmicks or oratory skills can be a substitute for integrity and fairness.

Thanks,
Robin Thomas

The Root Cause of Workplace Problems: Human Relations

For all these problems, the root cause is human relations. Like two rotating parts of machinery or equipment, when two or more people interact, there will be a certain amount of friction. For machinery, you have lubricants. For human beings, we have quite a few options like training all employees in Transactional Analysis, Interpersonal Skills, and open channels of communication—bottom to top, top to bottom, diagonal, vertical, horizontal.

This kind of open communication, without ego issues, lack of role clarity, goal clarity, and others, leads to such problems. If a junior turns out to be smart, the team leader or manager will immediately feel threatened and may try to suppress the individual simply because they are a smart worker. These dynamics are universal and common in human interactions. By the time individuals attain mental maturity, it might be too late to correct such behavior. Therefore, proper training is essential for such individuals.

Hi,

I think the most common reason is financial reasons: a job offering better money. Second could be personal reasons: personal growth, work-capacity ratio expectations, 'struggle-development-settlement-retirement' work-life stages, etc.

Third could be surroundings: behavior of company/supervisors, and family/location preferences. I agree it does not match the analogy being discussed above, but this is my thinking. Open for further brainstorming.

Best Regards, Amod.