As businesses often view it - what keeps bums in seats? 

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Academic literature has long pondered the push (internal) and pull (external) factors that will draw a person to say "right, enough is enough" and leave their employment. 

According to Mobley’s Decision to leave model (1977)(REF), the process of quitting typically goes a little bit like this:

1. You start to question your future in your role

2. You consider the possibility of the grass being greener elsewhere

3. You look at the risk and the cost to you

4. You look on Linked in, and other job sites, and see what is on offer (maybe even changing your status to 'Open to Work' for only recruiters to see👀)

5. You compare your findings to your current role

6. The Decision

7. If your dissatisfaction in your current role outweighs the benefits of staying, generally speaking ... you leave!

If you consider yourself to take a careerist approach, (where your career advancement outweighs all else) your company may drive you to leave where their ability to offer development and progression within the business is limited1. The Total Reward Approach (Armstrong, 2007) (REF: Armstrong, M., & Murlis, H. (2007). Reward management: A handbook of remuneration strategy and practice. Kogan Page Publishers. ) discusses how a successful retention strategy considers both tangible (i.e. salary, flexible working) and intangible (i.e. positive workplace culture, career development, a sense of belonging) rewards. Greater organisational benefits at other companies may attract a person out of their role and into their business - after all, it is a big pull factor for most.

Consider if your company have a retention strategy, and the level of balance they hold between both intangible and tangible rewards to help retain talented employees, like you 😉. 

16 Reasons Why Employees Choose To Leave Their Jobs | Indeed.com 

So have a think...what could push you to leave your role?

The Glass Ceiling has long been spoken about, and if you aren't familiar, this is where certain individuals often minorities or women are prevented from getting to managerial or leadership positions because of their race or sex (REF). 

What are the benefits to breaking the glass ceiling? Well, studies have found that increasing gender diversity and boosting female presence in leadership roles can boost an organisations performance, it can make the workforce more productive by simply recognising individual strengths and capabilities. It doesn't sound hard does it? The truth is it isn't and the ‘good’ employers will recognise this. Does yours?

Tip: Ask about your equality diversity and inclusion policy and take a look at your company's most recent Gender Pay Gap Report - these are key indicators of a company who values DE&I. 

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Now, what could pull you away from your job towards a new employer? 

What is in it for you? The benefits of the job? For me, a few key factors could perhaps persuade me to reconsider my current role include:

• A higher salary perhaps?

• Greater flexibility? 

• Private health care? 

• A better pension scheme? 

• Clear development opportunities?

Drop me an email (TheHREdit@outlook.com) and let me know YOUR pull factors. Let’s chat 😊 

A Quick Q&A 🫂

Q: Why should your company care? 

A: The Cost of High Employee Turnover:

                                         Losing employees is expensive, both directly and indirectly.

Direct costs: Recruitment, advertising, selection, training, and administrative expenses.

Indirect costs: Loss of talent, decreased morale, reputational damage, and reduced productivity.

A high turnover rate can have a ripple effect, affecting the company culture and increasing workload for remaining staff. How can a company remain competitive if it is losing all of it's staff?!

Q: How could your company keep you? 

A: Grab their ‘Employee Engagement’ Key 🗝️....

                                                                                      and unlock Retention 😃...

Research by Schaufeli & Bakker (2004) highlights three key aspects of employee engagement:

Vigour: Energy, resilience, and sustained effort at work.

Dedication: Enthusiasm, inspiration, and pride in one’s job.

Absorption: Deep focus and involvement in work tasks.

While engagement is a much broader topic that doesnt always necessarily fit into three aspects, this model helps to explain and categorise employee engagement into easy to understand sections.

Willingness and Communication

What do I think? We simply need a sprinkle of Willingness and Communication.

How can your company keep you engaged, and allow you to want to stay in the business? Think about it, it benefits you to be happy, secure and proud of your organisation, and it equally benefits the business to have committed, productive, long standing staff members. So why is it so hard to get it right? 

To foster engagement, organisations must focus on willingness and communication. Open conversations between HR, management, and employees ensure that needs and expectations align. According to the CIPD (REF: 2019) p.5) , creating a stimulating work environment and fostering motivation can significantly improve retention. 

I believe that open conversations solve a lot of issues. For example, having open discussions with your line manager about your progression.

Tip: Ask your manager if you are included in a succession plan. Ask where they percieve you would place on the 9-box grid? See below grid(REFERENCE):