Published August 20, 2017

Pat Them on the Back

Robert Dilenschneider has just published a Special Report called Retaining Your Best Employees. Dilenschneider is a PR expert and coach to some of the nation’s top CEOs.

In the material, he provides four major reasons why some staff leave their positions. Dilenschneider lives in the corporate world, but I believe these apply to our nonprofit organizations, also.

1. The staff person’s responsibilities don’t match their job description. 38% left because they felt their responsibilities were out of line with their job descriptions and their salaries.
2. They don’t find their work interesting, or they don’t see its importance to the organization, or they don’t see where it leads them. 38% said they left jobs because they found the work to be mind-numbingly boring. Almost 30% left because they didn’t feel their work made a positive impact in the organization.
3. They “burn out” from working long and inflexible hours. 31% have left jobs because they were expected to log long hours regularly.
4. For all the people I talk with who have left jobs, I find that this is actually the major reason. They don’t receive feedback or recognition from their bosses. 31% moved on because their superiors never gave them feedback to help them develop their skills or didn’t take enough steps to recognize a job well done.

People want to feel they are an important part of the organization and they want to be recognized for work that is well done. I had one Chief Executive Officer from a very large organization tell me: “I never compliment anyone. I feel it’s their responsibility to do a good job. Doing a good job is simply expected. They don’t have to be complimented for doing good work or an outstanding job.”

His turnover was frightening!