The top three reasons why your staff are leaving and what you can do about it

The majority of Australians who leave their jobs do so because they are unsatisfied with management, according research published yesterday by professional networking site LinkedIn.

The social media site for professionals surveyed 719 job-changers from Australia and New Zealand and found 42% of people who leave a workplace jump ship due to dissatisfaction with people in senior management roles.

This is in contrast to global figures compiled by LinkedIn, which found the majority of job-changers leave because they feel they do not have enough opportunities for career advancement.

This concern was the second most prominent reason for leaving among Australians, with 41% of job-leavers deciding to take up another opportunity because of a perceived inability to climb the corporate ladder.

Meanwhile, 39% of job-leavers reported they were unsatisfied with their workplace’s environment and culture and this is what drove them to leave.

According to LinkedIn, the research suggests Australian businesses need to focus on better career outcomes for their employees.

READ MORE: Seven ways to retain staff

Margaret Harrison, managing director of Our HR Company, told SmartCompany employees resigning because of poor managers is a massive issue for businesses across Australia. 

“For years when we’ve been doing leadership training, there is always the saying that people don’t leave a job, they leave a manager,” Harrison says.

“Forty-two per cent does not surprise me. In fact, I’m surprised it’s so low. The biggest problem we find with promotions is people promote a really good performer, but they don’t have people skills. So there’s a serious problem there and I don’t know if it’s ever going to go away.”

Harrison says in order to tackle employee churn, small business owners need to examine management training, recruitment processes and the way they go about promoting people.

Informal training sessions where managers can talk through issues and gain advice from each other is highly effective and saves money in comparison to professional training sessions, according to Harrison.

“Provide opportunities where managers can get together and talk about how to manage,” she says.
“It provides the non-traditional training where people can learn a lot from each other and not just sit in a classroom. Direct people to read books and read articles … find a key article and talk about it.”

LinkedIn has around 380 million users worldwide, with around 7 million of those users calling Australia home.

Here are the top three reasons why staff leave a workplace, according to LinkedIn:

1. They are unsatisfied with the leadership of senior management

2. They are concerned about the lack of opportunities for advancement

3. They are unsatisfied with the work environment and culture.