Why do people leave jobs? Is it always money?

This is going to be an opinion post but in my opinion, an extremely important one for your career. If you have been in the “game” for a while you probably have figured this out already. For my younger readers you will experience this at some point in your working life. Now this isn’t industry specific, meaning most industries this is applicable too but some it’s never really going to apply. This specific advice is for those who work for companies. The capacity isn’t important, you can be a contractor, a temp, a full time employee. This advice isn’t really applicable to consultants, small business owners etc.

People don’t leave companies they leave leaders

Let’s put it this way, most companies offer the same thing, the magnitude of what they offer might be different but it’s really all the same. They offer:

  • Pay/Salary
  • Benefits
  • Steady employment
  • Job security (most of the time)
  • Holidays or Holiday pay

Basically they all have the same premise, they pay you for your time to help them make money. You get X, and they get Y. No matter where you go in your career this is true. I know its general but you get the point, all companies essentially offer the same outline of employment. What makes or breaks a job, or a career are the people you work with.

Toxic people at work are not hard to spot.

The most important person at work is your immediate report. That person largely determines if you stay with that company or not. People leave leaders not companies, the deal you have with the company is the standard deal you’ll get anywhere. Sure you might get more somewhere else, but the core of the deal is the same. The person you work for directly though can make it an absolute nightmare.

Always be mindful of why you feel the way you do at work. Consider carefully why you feel that way and what the catalyst is. 9 times out of 10 it’s your direct leader that is at the heart of your issue. That can be fixed and you should examine if there are opportunities to enhance that relationship. In the end your direct boss is usually the sole reason why you are unhappy. Maybe they are unfair, maybe they don’t do enough, maybe they are of poor character.

Remember, people don’t leave companies they leave leaders.

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Great Resignation? One thing you should never do

So the resignation is ongoing or we are near the end I’m not sure. Another odd circumstance derived from the overzealous application of shutdowns. “This store can stay open but that one can’t” …. Don’t worry I’m not going to go off on a tangent here. So here we are, people are leaving the workforce, and some are not coming back. Of course there are more factors then just the pandemic that have led to this. Boomers are retiring, Side hustles are viable, people have downgraded their living standards.

Maybe you resigned from a role or are thinking about it? It’s not a bad option, inflation is high, employers need staff = the chance to make more money. I am pretty comfortable where I am now but if this were a few years ago I would have parlayed this into a new job for sure. However, there is one issue that comes up from time to time when you do resign that you need to be aware of.

Your current employer counter offers.

This happens, I’ve received them and on behalf of a company I have offered them to people leaving. Companies do this for a few reasons, but mainly it’s because they don’t have someone who can do what you do. So this begs the question, if they are counter offering does that mean you were undervalued? The answer is yes. Don’t be fooled here, just like you want to make as much money as you can working for a company, they want to pay you the least amount possible.

Plastic destroys the environment
Some companies are absolute garbage

I think that’s pretty obvious, sure HR dept.’s spends their resources trying to cultivate a “community” to provide non-monetary benefits but have no illusions here the single biggest measure you have for a company is how much it costs them to employ you. So a counter offer is flattering, in many cases it might even be financially lucrative. The issue is, the counter offer doesn’t change the reasons you wanted to leave. If the reason was financial, the counter offer confirms your rational.

There isn’t a positive outcome here for you except you make more money. If you had another job you were going to likely make more money, there anyway or have the potential too. Maybe this current job is comfortable for you, maybe you don’t really want to leave, maybe there are a 100 other reasons to stay. You got a counter offer because you told them you wanted to leave. Do you think they are going to look at you the same going forward?

Everything changes if you take the counter offer. Management knows you were willing to leave which is huge. Sure in the short term maybe they will kiss your ass because they need you (hence the counter offer) but you can bet they are already planning a contingency to replace you, I know I have been in those meetings. You may be getting more money but your “value” as a staff member is far less than it was. They not only know you are willing to leave; they know you are capable of leaving. That scares the crap out of companies because they have to have someone do the work. If not you then someone new, or other staff pick up the slack.

A counter offer is a hedge for them, they aren’t happy about it. This isn’t a performance review; you are essentially forcing their hand. The reasons you are leaving? They haven’t gone away, unless it was exclusively money but it’s rarely that. Never accept a counter offer unless you are a very high level executive as those circles are very small. Regular employees like you and me? Move on.

Thank you for coming by and supporting my blog I really appreciate it. Want to see another post like this one? Click here.

Why do people leave jobs? Is it always money?

This is going to be an opinion post but in my opinion, an extremely important one for your career. If you have been in the “game” for a while you probably have figured this out already. For my younger readers you will experience this at some point in your working life. Now this isn’t industry specific, meaning most industries this is applicable too but some it’s never really going to apply. This specific advice is for those who work for companies. The capacity isn’t important, you can be a contractor, a temp, a full time employee. This advice isn’t really applicable to consultants, small business owners etc.

People don’t leave companies they leave leaders

Let’s put it this way, most companies offer the same thing, the magnitude of what they offer might be different but it’s really all the same. They offer:

  • Pay/Salary
  • Benefits
  • Steady employment
  • Job security (most of the time)
  • Holidays or Holiday pay

Basically they all have the same premise, they pay you for your time to help them make money. You get X, and they get Y. No matter where you go in your career this is true. I know its general but you get the point, all companies essentially offer the same outline of employment. What makes or breaks a job, or a career are the people you work with.

Toxic people at work are not hard to spot.

The most important person at work is your immediate report. That person largely determines if you stay with that company or not. People leave leaders not companies, the deal you have with the company is the standard deal you’ll get anywhere. Sure you might get more somewhere else, but the core of the deal is the same. The person you work for directly though can make it an absolute nightmare.

Always be mindful of why you feel the way you do at work. Consider carefully why you feel that way and what the catalyst is. 9 times out of 10 it’s your direct leader that is at the heart of your issue. That can be fixed and you should examine if there are opportunities to enhance that relationship. In the end your direct boss is usually the sole reason why you are unhappy. Maybe they are unfair, maybe they don’t do enough, maybe they are of poor character.

Remember, people don’t leave companies they leave leaders.

Thank you for coming by and supporting my blog I appreciate it. Want to see another post like this one? Click here.