Why do people leave?

During this period of reduced employment, people are still leaving their jobs for a better opportunity and we know from experience that people do not move jobs they love purely for the money.

There has been significant amount of research into employee turnover and the main reasons for people jumping ship are as follows:

1. Attraction of a new job. Something exciting and different to what they have been doing.

2. If they can afford it, the prospect of a period outside the workforce is an attraction to some people.

3. Dissatisfaction in their present position. 

4. Domestic circumstances, such as relocation of a spouse. 

5. Poor relationship with their line manager. 

6. Lack of training. 

7. Lack of personal development. Some people are happy doing the same role for 5 years, but most people are not.

8. Poor induction or bad start. This is especially common in people that leave after about a year with you. They have made this decision around 8 to 12 weeks into the job. 

9. Poor recruitment decisions of both parties. Well I can claim this one from my past having briefly worked for Hays. I thought I was recruited to be a regional manager, they believed they had recruited a tele-sales monitoring manager. I was out of there quicker than a Manchester United player called up to the England squad for a friendly!

10. Raised expectations during the recruitment process. The recruiter tells you its the best company in the world and the company agrees. First day you walk into the office and you soon realise the mistake.

Personally I left a number of positions mainly down to changes in leadership, incorrect focus on the wrong things and most importantly frustration. I have never had this frustration since setting my own business up and I think it is worth the loss of job security to wake up in the morning with out that feeling.

We hope this creates some debate.