It is such a well known quote – that employees join a company but leave a manager. The quote gets bandied around to explain the impact of poor leadership on employee turnover and retention.
But – it’s not true!
Recent Harvard Business Review research titled Employees Leave Good Bosses Nearly as Often as Bad Ones shows that there is very little impact on the quantity of employees leaving. The difference comes from how employees leave.
Good leadership doesn’t reduce employee turnover precisely because of good leadership.
Happy Quitters
The research shows that good leadership means that leaders provide development and career opportunities as a matter of course. This of course, has the spill on effect that those employees are great external candidates.
What happens though – is that when these employees leave (and they do), they are “happy quitters”. They talk about their previous organisation and bosses in positive terms. This creates positive flow on effects for both the company and the ex employee. There is a caveat which is that this goodwill is generated where there are retention efforts made by the existing employer.
Implications
The research indicates three key implications:
- Good leadership does not guard against turnover. So retention mechanisms need to be built with this in mind;
- In the era of war on talent, having a strong alumni can be considered a positive thing. Turnover is not necessarily bad if it happens with the conditions specified above. Ex employees can return to their original employer with even further skills and development.
- Off boarding is key. Managing the alumni and the relationship is critical to an ongoing relationship. This doesn’t mean the standard HR exit interview, but investing in the relationship beyond the here and now.
This research has such great implications for leadership, HR programmes and how we view tenure of employees at work. It is well worth a read. Then consider what it means for your team and your leadership.
Until next week, happy leading.
