By Neal Glatt

Employees are saying, “I’m Quitting” to their bosses more than ever in history - nearly 4 million Americans per month, in fact.  As if finding people wasn’t hard enough, now business owners have to be worried about losing those who they already have employed.  Fortunately, keeping staff doesn’t have to be a mystery.  Here’s my three factors to set up employees for success.

Pay a Living Wage 

I’m not here to debate how much people should be making per hour or what minimum wage should be adjusted to nationwide.  And this opinion isn’t a political agenda by any means.  I think that people work in hopes of providing for themselves and their families.  And while life choices and circumstances will vary greatly about what that level of income needs to be for each person in each region of the country, people need to make enough money to provide for the basic living expenses to survive.  Unfortunately, many jobs don’t provide this opportunity.  For someone who can’t afford shelter, food, childcare, and healthcare, leaving their job is the obvious choice, especially if every other company is hiring at higher wages.  Paying a living wage is a necessity.

Have a Purpose

The reason that you and I aren’t saying, “I Quit” is because we believe in what we do.  Here at GrowTheBench, I get to produce content and share ideas every day that enable businesses to grow and employees to realize their potential.  Helping people find fulfillment in their job is such an important purpose that no other job offer can lure me away.  But according to Gallup, less than 1 in 3 employees say that the mission and purpose of their organization makes them feel their job is important.  Leaders need to share stories about how their company improved the lives and businesses of their customers to inspire employees to stay and work hard.  Most importantly, each employee needs to be able to articulate how their role contributes to the overall purpose.  A job can no longer be just a job for workers.

Learn and Grow

The number one item that people are seeking in a job is growth and development opportunities.  Employers on the whole aren’t providing enough education and coaching to attract, develop, and retain their team, as evidenced by the fact that 93% of the time people started a new role they switched their company to do so.  It’s time to have intentional, future-oriented conversations with employees about their career path.  If you’re not sure where to start, don’t have time to invest yourself, or need resources to help teach what you don’t know, check out the courses here on GrowTheBench.  After all, if we don’t figure out how to keep the people we have, we may just go out of business.