A Brutally Honest Answer To Why Companies Are Losing Employees.
Every company is built off the people who work there. Full stop.
Yet, we think of the company as a part of our identity, instead of the company's identity being the people. We have to start reframing this thought. The mentality is often, “I can pay my bills because I have a job at Apple'' when it should be “Apple can keep its lights on because of my incredible customer service.” The reason we don’t have this thought is because we know if we quit, get fired, or when we die, they will replace us in an instant and we are not as needed as we hoped. That subtle message communicates to the employee, “You are not valuable. We do not need you. You need us.”
And in that moment, a toxic relationship is created.
A relationship based on power that leads to burnout, turnover, and executives who take advantage of employees. This year WebMD Health Services with Limeade reported that “Burnout amongst baby boomers increased from 24% pre-pandemic to 31%. Gen Xer burnout rates jumped 14 points from 40% pre-pandemic to 54% today.” And as the year goes on, more and more reports of burnout are coming up.
Companies forget one key aspect to their employees and it costs them not only money but also the culture of their teams. They spend thousands or even millions to get more productivity, sales, and loyalty out of their employees and yet ignore that they are employing people. People who have lives outside of the job, bodies with mental and physical health, and identities that give their contribution depth. They are not a name on a sheet of paper, and while it’s easier to think of them as only a number, they are not. As Joe Fox, played by Tom Hanks, on You’ve Got Mail says, “It’s not personal, it’s business.” and Katheen Kelly, played by Meg Ryan, so poignantly responds with, “All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's personal to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway?”
It does make me wonder, what is so wrong with being personal, anyways? Personal is how quality marketing is done. You have to know the person you are marketing to. Personal is how businesses thrive, knowing the needs of their employees and clients. Personal is how societies thrive as communities, vs individualistic thinking. Personal is how success happens.
And yet, employees are constantly wanting to prove their value in ways the company defines as “valuable” so they don’t get fired because “It’s just business”. What if a company understood that yes, we could and will have to replace an employee at some point but there will never be another employee with their mind, perspective, and skills again. That there is value in the person we currently are employing and we need to do everything we can to amplify their skill set and experience, because the employees make the company. While this sentence sounds like a soft emotional thought, we need to see it through the lens of logic.
It is absolutely true you will never have this person's perspective again nor their exact skill set. The journey they have gone through to get here and the wisdom and skills they have gained along the way is invaluable. To burn them out, treat them as replaceable, or minimize their contribution to their metrics is to completely disregard the ways the company benefits from them as whole. It ignores the fact that without any employees, or clients, a company would not exist. The company is dependent on its employees and clients and should lead from a more humble place because we have all seen companies fall when they forget who makes them. Are there employees who are not a fit for a company, industry, or work model? Yes, but those are fewer than we actually think. We just are trying so hard to force everyone to fit into a small box that isn’t realistic.
It also takes away the ability to see how a person could work with the company in new ways. If you only see them as valuable to their current role, the box you’ve put them in, you are less likely to promote or pivot them to a job they may fit better at. Take for example a company that has an employee who cannot meet their metrics, and yet they hype up the team every morning and get the team's energy back up after lunch and keeps momentum going throughout the week. This skill brings in a large amount of profit due to the ways they keep their team morale up. They may not have the skill set for the metrics but is there another role they could thrive in with the skills they have in leading? Time and time again I have seen companies miss out on valuable assets an employee has because they only see the employee through the job description vs seeing the potential of the person. While not every company can adapt their jobs to meet the skills of an employee, they often have more flexibility than they want to admit. Companies forget the skill that comes with empathetic thinking, to be able to see a person as a whole and complex individual with multiple parts that can grow and learn.
Whether a company has to start changing how they review employees, provide more opportunities for growth and learning through mental health workshops, professional training and courses, or set more intentional boundaries on when and how people can be contacted to prevent burnout, companies have more control than they like to admit with their employee’s well-being and success. You can bring in speakers who can advocate for your team, lead by example by admitting what you need and implementing it, and honestly listening to the needs of your employees. (Bonus: all of these build trust and strengthen your relationships)
If you are wanting to grow your profit, impact, and success as a company, first pay attention to who will be making that growth happen: your employees. Put your attention on them, and be intentional in getting to know who they are. Understand their needs, their strengths, and where they need support.
Because it’s not just business, it’s personal.