1/A year or so ago, I began to talk publicly about my approach to employee retention. This was mostly with fellow managers (friends) I knew, and with my old boss and the managers I hired to replace me.
I had developed a way of thinking about retention that I thought was useful.
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2/This was mostly out of desperation: when we switched from consulting to product, the grind was horrible, and we shrunk to a team of 5.
I'm not sure if you've ever felt what it's like to work in an empty office, when it was previously bustling. It doesn't feel good.
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3/I started systematically searching for an approach to retention.
There are two common misconceptions here.
1) People leave because you don't pay them enough.
2) People leave bad managers, not bad jobs.
Both are overly reductive, and don't survive a test with reality.
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4/For instance, I've known people who don't leave despite being unhappy about their pay. And I've known people who stuck with bad managers because they enjoyed the work and their colleagues. (And feared the job search).
So what factors are predictive? I think there are 6.
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5/Six reasons people leave companies:
- They aren't growing enough.
- No autonomy.
- The work doesn't fit into their lives.
- Compensation is an issue.
- They have a terrible relationship with their coworkers, or with their immediate boss.
- Disillusionment with mission/purpose.
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6/The six reasons aren't single-causal. No single reason, alone, is likely to cause someone to quit.
Rather, think of these as six dimensions with which to evaluate flight risk. Once a subordinate has had 'enough', they're out.
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7/ has a term for this. He calls it 'Shields Down'. His post (randsinrepose.com/archives/shiel) was super helpful for me when developing the language to talk about this. Go read it. It's good.
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8/The six reasons means that your job as manager is really simple. It breaks down to two things:
1. Figure out how important each of these 6 dimensions are for each of your subordinates.
2. Check to see those 6 dimensions are ok.
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9/(Caveat: one of those dimensions — how the work fits into their lives — isn't under your control. Reason: their lives may change (e.g. get married, fall critically ill) in ways that change their relationship to their work.)
But apart from that, the 6 reasons are pretty useful.
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10/I got pretty good at increasing the retention in my team. My boss loved me.
I then hired 2 managers and trained them to replace me when I left, and taught them this framework. I also started sharing it with friends — many of whom have helped refined the framework.
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11/Late last year, I started writing a book on my approach. It's titled Keep Your People: The Startup Manager's Guide to Employee Retention. I launched it yesterday! Check it out here: managementforstartups.com/keep-your-peop, download an excerpt, and tell me what you think! 🙏