7 Myths About Employee Retention

Employee retention is something that every company should value, but few companies do. While most organizations say they want employees to stay, turnover is considered a part of the business, and few companies put in the research efforts necessary to truly ensure that employee retention remains high. One reason for that is there are a variety of myths about employees and employee retention that may affect the way people view the issue. So here are seven of the more common employee retention myths currently in place today.

Myth 1: Employees That Leave Can't Handle the Pressure At startup companies, especially, there’s a silly belief that employees leave the organization because they cannot handle the pressure of working in a startup. Rarely is that the case. Employees leave companies for a variety of reasons, and yes – it’s conceivable that pressure can be one of them – but if that’s the case it will almost always be communicated.

Often employees leave when their other needs are not being met, not because their job is too hard. In fact, at larger companies, employees may even leave because they don’t have enough responsibilities. Employees that feel their talents are wasted or they’re not being given more responsibility no matter how hard they work may look for better work elsewhere.

Myth 2: All Employees Leave for More Pay More money certainly is tempting, but employees rarely leave “just” for more money. The first thing to remember is that an employee that is satisfied at their job will rarely find themselves in a position to find more money elsewhere. Employees also leverage their satisfaction – if they’re happy with their career, there’s no reason to leave for a marginal upgrade at what may be a worse career.

In addition, potential for growth within the company, consistent recognition of abilities and achievements – all of these can improve employee retention and outweigh any salary issues. It’s vital that you pay your employees a fair salary and give them rewards when they earn it, but money alone is rarely a reason employees leave. Myth 3: You Always Hire Good Managers While this idea has been repeated time and time again, it’s important for companies to realize that there’s no such thing as a “good supervisor” if the people they supervise do not like or respect the person supervising them.

True management ability is based upon the idea that the manager knows how to work with their subordinates effectively. If you hire a manager with a lot of experience, and the employees the manager oversees are dissatisfied with their supervisor and leave, then it’s the manager – not the employees – that has a problem. Myth 4: Managers are Why People Leave Yes, management/supervisors can have a tremendous effect on someone’s willingness to stay with the organization, but they’re not the only reason that employees leave.

Unfair pay, confusing work, and poor communication (all of which may be the fault of the company, not the manager) can all be causes of employee dissatisfaction. Indeed, management is often a tangential problem that shoots off from other areas of dissatisfaction. Myth 5: Your Performance Evaluation Methods Work Performance evaluation issues are one of the key areas where companies seem to be struggling, and this can have a fairly drastic effect on your satisfaction and loyalty.

All employees want to know that they’re being correctly appreciated, and often the methods that companies use to evaluate employees (which are almost never standardized – most often it’s simply the opinion of a supervisor or two) are inadequate, especially with so much technology that can provide you with real, numerical examples of how well the employee is succeeding. An employee that doesn’t feel appreciated for their good work is often going to look for a place where their skills will be better valued. Myth 6: Employee Retention is Difficult Employee retention programs are not difficult or expensive to create and maintain, unless you’ve been underpaying and underappreciating your entire staff.

The reality is that little changes all throughout the office can make a big difference, and the research you need to complete to know what changes should take place can be inexpensive (especially with SurveyMethods' software). Myth 7: Employees Don’t Care About the Company Finally, it’s important to remember that employees do care about the company’s success. Your employees spend at minimum 40 hours a week at the office.

They want to take pride in both their work and their employer. They want to love their job and they want to proudly tell people what they do and where they work. If your employees do not share this loyalty, chances are it’s because your company isn’t connecting with them correctly.

Employee retention is very important. But it can only be successful if your company understands how it works and is willing to take the right steps to change it. Avoid falling for the above myths and research your employees thoroughly to get a better understanding of their loyalty and their needs.

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