Why Your Best Employees Leave and How to Keep Them

One of the most common problems for remote teams is team member turnover. Your project is humming along, or you're finally caught up on your work and, BAM, Joanne in Topeka gives her notice (if you're lucky) and you're behind the eight ball again. She seemed happy and was doing a good job. What happened?

According to a new employee engagement study from Blessing White, there's a reason even your best, happiest team members are likely to jump ship on you. It's not what's happening now; it's what they'll do in the future.

According to the report, 26% of your employees who think of leaving do so because they don't see a future where they are. That's almost three times the number of people who think about leaving because they don't like their manager. This is a little shocking because we've always been told that the major cause of turnover is manager-employee relationships.

So what do these numbers mean for companies and managers?

• If their career is so important to them, it ought to be important to you too. Many managers do a really good job of checking in with employees on tasks and milestones. The work that needs to be done today is monitored and feedback is given. You might even have a good personal relationship with them and know the names of their kids' soccer teams and everything else. But when was the last time you asked them about their career goals? Where do they want to be a year from now and what help can you offer them in getting there? One thing that's implicit in the report is that even the appearance of interest in their long-term goals drives up engagement and builds ties.
• Lip service isn't enough--they need to see action eventually. Having those conversations is a good start, and it makes people feel good for a while. Eventually, though, they need to see some movement in the right career direction. Are you giving them training opportunities or are they simply temps and that's not your company's concern? Are you delegating tasks to allow them development opportunities? Simple things like letting them run webmeetings and conference calls not only give them a chance to stretch new muscles, but they give you some time and breathing room. That's a win-win.
• There are things you can do to help that don't cost much. Not all training has to be formal, expensive or run through the gatekeepers at home office. There are classes individuals can sign up for inexpensively as well as free blogs, white papers and podcasts that members can share with each other and you can make available on your team's intranet site or shared files.
• Some of this is inevitable, and outside your control. As with any situation you're trying to address, some of this is inside your sphere of influence and some is out of your control entirely. The nature of the employee-employer relationship has changed, probably forever. 20% or more of the workforce is part-time, independent contractors or temporary workers, and in some industries (like IT project management) it's even higher. If your company will not under any circumstances move people to full-time, or won't consider independent contractors when looking at promotion or hiring, you have to know that these people will be at great risk to leave eventually. You can make it a little easier on yourself and your employees by being really honest about career opportunities when you interview them so they don't have inflated expectations. You'll have a good sense of how long they'll be around as well.

Read more:

• 3 reasons not to run your own virtual meetings
• What is the remote manager's role in employee development?
• Career advice for remote workers--be visible but not annoying