Ducks in a Row: Culture is the Keeper
by Miki Saxon
Oh joy. A new study of 25,000 employees, working in more than 1,000 different companies across 20 industries spread across Northern America, Europe, Asia, and Australia was done over the 12 months of 2018.
43% of employees said that they would be likely to leave their current companies if they were offered a 10% pay rise elsewhere. That number was up from 25% in their 2017 survey.
The report says that weak company cultures are to blame, while the author thinks the strong job market is also responsible.
I disagree, because if the majority of the stuff listed below is actually fixed it will take a lot more than a 10% raise to attract someone to a culture that probably has those same problems.
Here is the list.
- Technical issues with software, and other tools
- Interruptions and disruptions from Slack, emails and noisy office environments
- Poor communication from management / lack of training and information
- Disorganized and time-wasting systems and processes
- Misguided decisions from management / bad leadership
- Lack of flexibility / no opportunities to work from home
- Overworked / under resourced team
- Office politics / favoritism
- Difficult customers
- Too many meetings
The sheer size of the responding group means smart bosses will take note of these irritants; most are fixable without much impact on the budget.
Most require changes the boss can effect or, at least, influence. People aren’t stupid, they know their boss can’t change the whole company. But if they change what they can and keep working on the others, their people will stay and work with them.
What often matters most is that bosses recognize that they are part, if not all, of the problem and are honestly trying to change.
Image credit: Emma
