Nearly 2.8 million Americans quit their jobs in September, according to a recent article (12/4/14) in USA Today. The article cites the improving economy (it is improving, right?) as the reason for the exodus of people leaving their jobs. When the economy was down, employees felt fortunate to simply have their jobs; so they decided to stay put and ride out the economic downturn, figuring it was better to have a job that they didn’t like, than to have no job at all. 

Now that things are better and workers feel more confident in the future, they’ve decided that now may be the time to make the move on to new careers. Paul McDonald of staffing firm Robert Half is quoted in the USA Today article as saying, “There’s more people poking their heads out and looking … rather than taking that hunkered down position.”

So … are your people the ones looking for new opportunities? Are they now feeling emboldened to at least put their feet in the water and see if they can find a better opportunity somewhere else? The odds are good that the answer is yes! 

If you lead people, or employ people, why should this matter to you? 

Because you don’t want your good people to go, especially your tenured ones. These are the people that know your industry, your company’s culture, the expectations, the ins and outs of the operations. They don’t have an organizational “learning curve” that they need to master, they’re the ones that set the curve. And, quite frankly, you may need to pay more to attract talent from the outside than if you just retained the top talent you had in your organization in the first place. 

I know there is a certain amount of employee turnover that will happen, no matter what you do. Sometimes people just want a change, or they need to relocate, or their life moves in a different direction, are given an opportunity they couldn’t refuse and so on. And yes, change can refresh, restore and re-energize things in companies. 

All that being said … when good people leave a company, it hurts! When good people leave for reasons that you can do something about, it hurts even more-and it doesn’t need to. 

What will help them stay?

Here is a good place to start: There are four main drivers of employee satisfaction, according to Satisfacts Research:

Education: Your people want and need to be provided with the tools they need to succeed. 

Team: Today’s employee wants to work in a positive environment. They want to feel good about what they do and who they work with. 

Trust: Do you trust your employees with the “keys to the company?” If you do, do they know it? 

Recognition: Everyone likes a “shout out” now and again! This is especially true if you have Millennials (those born from 1980-2000) on your team. 

Your people are the biggest expense you have, right? Why not treat them right?