September 20, 2021
4 min read

Why are you losing your best employees?

Written by
Angel Lim

Why do your employees leave you? This article is worth paying attention for any company experiencing high staff turnover.


Three resignation letters sit quietly at the edge of your desk today. It’s only the beginning of the month and you’ve received almost up to 10 resignations.

You scrunch up your face and release, trying to regain calm. These are superstars of the company that have contributed to the company’s revenue last quarter.

Holding the letters, your mind keeps replaying why are you losing employees in the company.  

Sounds familiar? Check out the main reasons your employees want to leave your team!

1. No work-life balance

Work is not everything. You need to realise that every employee has a life outside of work. Dedicated employees are valuable to the growth of the organisation. Cut them some slack and allow them to focus on their parts of life that don’t involve work.

After all, your employees are humans too. If you constantly find overstressed and overworked, chances are, they are more likely to quit their jobs in no time. They may leave for what they are greener pastures with better work-life balance.

no work-life balance
Stressed and overworked employees are more likely to quit their jobs.

2. Low pay

Your employees like working for the business, but you’re only paying them the legal minimum (or below) salary. Yes, paying people less costs less money. Sounds like a good idea? But here’s the catch, this could be one of the reasons you lose good employees!

You may think you are paying them reasonably fair, but you also must consider how they compare to the industry standards. It’s easy for them to find out how much their peers earn at other companies that makes them aware of their market value. If they feel they are not getting paid well, they will find another job that pays more.

3. Limited growth in the company

Anyone serious about climbing the career ladder does not want to get stuck in a mindless, dead-end job. Plus, it is tough to keep employees motivated at work without any opportunities to learn or grow.

The truth is, they want to learn more than what they know, take up more responsibilities, and gain more experiences. If the company does not give employees clear paths for professional development, they eventually lose motivation and might seek elsewhere for better jobs.

Employees are less motivated when there are less opportunities to grow.

4. Poor company culture and leadership

Company culture does have an impact on employees on how they feel about their overall work experience. Whether it is the rigid top-down structure, employees are not empowered to make decisions, or simply the atmosphere is too toxic, employees feel reluctant to stay at the workplace.

Employees quit bosses, not jobs. Working for bad bosses can be draining and drive employees away. A bad manager can poison any productive, collaborative environment. Employees drag themselves to show up at work every day, but they lose the spirit to produce quality work.

5. Lack of employee recognition

No one wants their performance to go unnoticed, especially if they’re putting in more time than other colleagues. It can be too easy to take your best employee for granted. While they never ask for praise (or raise), it doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a “thank you” for their dedication.

If you don’t recognise their hard work, you fail to motivate them and miss out on the most effective way to enhance their performance. Show them that you value their contributions and efforts. This can give your best people another reason to stay focused.

Show your employees that you value their contributions and efforts.

Focus on retention strategy

It is a bummer and quite upsetting to lose the superstars from your team. Pay attention to these factors and find ways to reduce turnover and retain your most valued employees. If not, you will be holding regular exit interviews and goodbye lunches.

It takes time and effort to find the next best replacement, which could be more expensive too. Why not put in the effort necessary to retain employees that you have tirelessly hired?

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