Leigh Branham is the author of several good business books, one of which is the 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave.

This book isn’t a collection of Branham’s opinions. Its findings were compiled from over 19,000 employee surveys. Without further ado, here are the most common reasons people leave a company:

#1: The job or workplace was not as expected.
#2: The mismatch between job and person.
#3: Too little coaching and feedback.
#4: Too few growth and advancement opportunities.
#5: Feeling devalued and unrecognized.
#6: Stress from overwork and work-life imbalance.
#7: Loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders.

Did you notice anything? None of these reasons have anything to do with salary. And yet, ask any manager and most will say that people stay or leave based on how much money they make.

Biting my Tongue
Squelching my desire to scream “ostrich,” I’d like to invite all managers and leaders to take pause and get introspective for a few hours. Get your self-analysis cap on, and maybe even find someone you trust to tell you the God honest truth. What might you be doing (or not doing) to contribute to any of those seven reasons?

If you should identify anything to work on (and I’ll bet that everybody can improve on something in that list), stew not. Simply outline some corrective action steps and move forward.

One good place many companies can start is with the hiring process. I’ve got a few e-books available on the topic, and you can also find a useful outline for making the best hiring decision from SCORE. Lots of other resources are available as well.

Just know that when people leave, it’s rarely because of the money. If turnover is eating away at your bottom line, take a look at the work environment. Between a few changes in the hiring process and some adjustments in employer-employee relations, you can probably make a huge difference.

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Filed in Work, Business, Management, Leadership