Episode 292: Staff Members Leave The Manager, Not The Job

Do you feel like you have a high turnover? Have you ever thought about why you have turnover? Do you know? Is it because of seasonal employees? young staff members moving on? or even life situations? Maybe so! But what if I were to blow your mind and have you consider something you might not have considered, but really can make a huge difference in whether employees stay or go? It could be your management style, you as an owner, or your manager! Bad management can turn even some of the best, most reliable staff members on your team away. And if nothing is done about the management, it will continue to happen. Because when the wrong person is named a manager, nothing can entice good employees to stay. Statistics show, that more than half of employees with bad management are thinking about changing careers, and that half of them will quit because of this bad manager. As the owner, you want the ability to step away from your business so you can focus on all the aspects that help you and your business grow. When you are bogged down with the everyday task of your employees, growth is put on the back burner. This week I am giving you four things to consider in order to be a better business manager. Biggest Takeaways: Employees are not solemnly enticed by just money. They want to feel valued, important, and needed. Having good management will ensure the longevity of your staff and keep the morale of the business high. It might be time to evaluate your management team and see if turnover could be due to their lack of good management Do your managers know the staff members why? How does their tone affect the staff? What does the work environment look like? What is their leadership type? How do their expectations impact the staff? It is important to know how your management is affecting business before staff members walk out the door. Recommendations: If you're looking for a community that is going to uplift you, challenge you, and help you grow I encourage you to look at the Mastermind group. You will find all the HR answers, business tips, and support you need to help run your business. While you are looking to continue and hire your employees, do not take your eye off marketing. Because marketing is for employees too. Better Marketing With Bella helps you with all your marketing needs to ensure you are getting not only enough clients but the right employees, too. Links: Better Marketing With Bella Mastermind Gingr Pet-Care Software Transcript: This is episode 292 of Bella in Your Business. Do you wish running your pet care business was easier? Well, it can be. Made by pet lovers for pet lovers, Ginger is the top pet care software for dog grooming, boarding, and daycare businesses. Developed by a team of pet industry experts, Ginger is designed to meet all of your needs with online booking, facility calendars, integrated payments, and more. Get the best pet care business software that gets you. Get Ginger. Visit gingerapp.com/bella to claim your free one-month subscription. That’s G-I-N-G-R-A-P-P.com/bella to claim that one free month subscription. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump! Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. We are creeping closer and closer to the 300th episode. What should I do? What do you want to hear? Do you want me to go really personal like I did at 250 and 200? Do you want to hear a free training? Do you want to come on and be interviewed for the podcast with me? What do you guys want to do? Please give me some ideas. This podcast is for you, so it only makes sense that you help me figure that out. You can email me at [email protected]. Now, this week’s episode is going to be really fun. I’m actually really excited about it. I had to stop writing notes because I was like, all right, it’s enough notes, I already know what I’m going to say about this. But I’m just so jazzed up. You know, I just finished this hiring pop-up group last week, and it went really well. There was a lot of information—it was like a fire hose, honestly. I was really teaching a lot about systems for interviewing, for onboarding, for training, and just trying to draw awareness to everybody about how much you’re stabbing yourself in the eyeballs by not having sexy, exciting, fast, smooth experiences when you’re hiring people. And I’m going to kind of keep on that same thought process as I talk about why do people leave you? Because imagine—last podcast we talked about “Would you hire everyone back?” Right? So let’s just assume this is a perfect world and you are completely staffed and they’re all the best staff ever. I know you do not like hiring. There are very few people that actually like it. But imagine that you had ten staff members, and let’s say they were all perfect. You didn’t want to get rid of any of them, and they never wanted to get rid of you. What would that be like? That would mean you’d never have to hire again. That would mean that you have the dream team forever. You’d only need to hire if your business were growing. If you really take a good hard look at yourself, I don’t think all of you are only hiring because you’re growing. I think you might also be hiring because people are quitting. Now, is it always your fault? No, of course not. Life circumstances come up—college, new jobs, higher pay, maybe your business is just a stepping stone for them. But what about the people that leave you because they don’t like you? Ouch. Yeah, not everyone’s going to like you. Take it from me—people are not always going to like you. So what can we do as business owners or managers to make people like us and not want to leave? Now, I just want to set the stage. Throughout this podcast, I’m going to talk about a manager. But that manager could also be the business owner—it depends on your organizational setup. Maybe you have a supervisor, or maybe it all falls on you. I’ll use “manager” interchangeably. Do you know that in October 2021, Inc. published an article stating that a study of 2,000 employees conducted by the Predictive Index found that nearly half had thought about changing careers in the past 12 months—and a staggering 63% of those with a bad manager were thinking of leaving within the next year? It’s the manager. The reason why so many people are quitting has everything to do with their relationship with their bosses. A 2018 Udemy study found that nearly half of employees surveyed had quit because of a bad manager, and almost two-thirds believed their manager lacked proper managerial training. Gallup’s ongoing State of the American Workplace study summarized this perfectly: “The single biggest decision you make in your job—bigger than all the rest—is who you name manager. When you name the wrong person manager, nothing fixes that bad decision. Not compensation, not benefits, nothing.” I want you to soak that in for a minute. You as the business owner need to be empowering your manager—or yourself—to constantly learn how people work, how to motivate them, and what motivates them. One of the funniest things to me is when people say, “Well, I tell my staff that if they find our next employee, we’ll give them $50.” How’s that working for you? I’ll bet you a hundred dollars that it doesn’t work out. Why? Because the people you hired are not motivated by money. They’re motivated by different things. To motivate people, you have to understand their “why.” Leadership and First Impressions If you’re a manager right now, you might be running around like a chicken with your head cut off. But the interview process is your first chance to show your leadership style. If your leadership looks chaotic—if you take too long to respond to applicants, come across unorganized, or fail to set expectations—they’ll sense that. Maybe they’re ghosting you because you’re a hot mess. Your first impression sets the tone. If you’re not clear, communicative, or confident, it’s one of the biggest reasons why you can’t hire or retain good staff. Once you do hire them, the manager sets the tone for the company culture. The tone is set from the top—that’s you. If the manager is stressed, crabby, or negative, employees will struggle to stay positive. If you lead from fear, anxiety, or control, they feel that. On the other hand, if the manager is upbeat and supportive, that energy spreads. The manager should always be solution-oriented. Don’t harp on the past. Focus on what’s next. One of my favorite phrases when someone messes up is: “Okay, I understand why you did it that way this time. But in the future, it’s really important that we do X because of Y. Can we agree on that?” That’s how you move things forward. Clear Expectations and Communication Employees want to know what’s expected of them. They want to feel that they’re making a positive impact. How often are you cheering on your team? If they don’t understand what’s expected or never get feedback, they’ll get frustrated. A good manager sets clear expectations and has regular check-ins—quarterly or semi-annual meetings work well. Give them your company’s top five values and rate them together. And remember—it’s a two-way street. They should get to rate you, too. Leading by Example If you expect employees to do something, make sure it’s something you’d do yourself. In my old company, Bella’s House and Pet Sitting, I had a rule: I would never ask an employee to do something I wouldn’t do myself. If I felt uncomfortable in a client’s home, I wouldn’t send an employee there either.