2 Reasons Why Employees Stay And 2 Reasons Why They Won’t

I’ve heard time and time again employers complain ‘good workers are hard to find’. But really it’s not the availability of good employees that is the problem. The real problem is found in how a sustainable relationship is formed with those employees.

Keeping a good employee is really not that difficult. There are only two factors essentially required for an employee to stay.

Trust
Likeability

Anything outside of these two elements is minimal compared to the final decision required for them to stay or leave.

I wrote an article last year entitled: “Here’s Why Good Employees Quit” where I highlighted four things that send good employees packing. Each of those four reasons is directly connected to likeability or trust.

You don’t have to like everyone you work with but at the very least you should be able to trust that they will do what they have promised to do – their job and all those things in between that impact your security and growth.

A loyal employee may forego many things if they trust you. Developing trust includes matters of safety and security, (i.e. I trust you to employ me and keep me safe in my working environment) honesty, and authentic communication.

The Trust Factor

If an employee can trust you to:

1. Deliver on your promise to pay them.
2. Deliver on your promise to promote them.
3. Give them an opportunity for growth and all those other things you say you will do during their tenure or during that interview.

They will stay – but for those very reasons they will also leave.

If an employee cannot trust you, but they like you or like those they work with, they are more likely to hold out for a while – but even that doesn’t last forever.

The Likeability Factor

Employees are more likely to stay even if they don’t trust their boss so long as they like something about where they work. Workers may like:

1. The pay
2. Their colleagues
3. Simply like the work they do.

In any of these scenarios dealing with a little distrust is something many workers overlook.

Final Thoughts

The same way we do business with others in our personal lives is the same way employees do business with us. An agreement to work in return for pay is a business decision.

Think about it, do we pay people our hard-earned money if we don’t like or trust them, their product or service? Heck no! We pay them because either one of two things apply: We trust them or we like doing business with them.

To keep good employees, we must provide that which we expect from others in our day-to-day lives.

[This post by Mary V. Davids first appeared on her website and has been reproduced with permission.]