How to lose good employees

Yahoo! HotJobs just completed a survey about employment plans with 1000 currently employed U.S. workers. Forty percent plan to look for a new job in the next year; 21% are already doing so. Among those who plan to change, most (96%) are after money--better pay or benefits. Other motivating factors:

-- 44% felt there was no "potential for career growth" in their current positions

-- Almost a fifth (18 percent) found their commute objectionable (a no-brainer in Cleveland where lots of people regularly drive 40 minutes from one side of town to the other or to Akron/Medina--and our traffic jams are starting to look like they can compete in the big times)

-- A quarter (25 percent) felt their employers did not value their work

-- 29% wanted to work for a company with a "higher morale"

Statistics like these support the case that many U.S. employers have a long way to go in learning how to attract and retain good employees. Without making any value judgment on how "good" these employees are, it's fair to say that if an employee isn't performing because s/he isn't right for the job you hired him/her for, your hiring process or people need work. If these unhappy people are, in fact, doing good work, then the low morale, and the sense of not being valued are serious signs that internal communication systems need tuning--and/or that managers need better training.

So many employees seeing a lack of growth opportunities could indicate their own lack of vision--but most likely it shows that you are not investing enough time in imagining how you can better use the growing experience and skills of your best employees.

How many good employees will you lose this year?