Recently a young man we worked with left his plumbing job – he is excited about the field, enjoys getting up in the morning for his job and likes the people he works with. In fact, he is hoping to work towards his apprenticeship by going to school in the fall. Why then did he leave? The answer is simple. Because he is young and mobile, he was constantly being sent to jobs out of town. The good part of this is his meals and his accommodation have been paid for by the company. The downside is he cannot get together with his friends in the evenings.

Welcome to the age of the Millennial! He, like many others his age, finds the need to be with his friends just as, if not more important than his need to continue his education to reach the level in his work that he desires. For many of the younger generation, instant gratification is more important than looking to the future. Had the plumbing company taken time to understand this young man’s needs and to accommodate those needs he would still be with them. Instead, they made no attempt and lost a valued employee.

Today, more than ever, there is a need for employers to include their staff in decisions – not necessarily about the vision of the organization, rather in how to get there. Business today is not like the business the leaders – read Baby Boomers – started in 30 or even 20 years ago. It’s different – people want to be heard and to have input into how to get to the goals and to know their part in achieving this success.

How can you tell if “your” organization has an engagement problem? Let’s explore why employees of any age may leave the company they are working for. There are many signs which will show this although today we will only deal with five of them.

Sign 1    Doing tasks irrelevant to people’s skill set

Everyone wants to feel they are part of the solution. If the tasks an individual is given are mundane and repetitive and they cannot see how it benefits the goals laid out in the organization, it is very possible you will see this employee leave. Yes, everyone does tasks at work which, if they had a choice, they would not do. However, one does need to be able to do meaningful work that helps the company move forward most of the time.

You will recognize this when you have people “all over the place” doing “everything as required.” There may be an expectation of saving money by doing those jobs that nobody wants to do, however it is more critical when nobody wants to do these because they don’t match the skill set. Talk about this with your employees and ensure they have more work that matches their passions, their skills and their expectations and they will better accept doing a bit of those jobs nobody wants to do.

If an individual views these tasks as irrelevant he or she will leave. Note the word “views”! It not only matters how relevant the work is to the outcomes of the department, it also matters how relevant the work is to the individual and his or her skill set.

Often we seem to be talking to organizations who are giving people tasks with no connection to the individual’s skill set, training or education. And then they cannot understand why the individual is unhappy in coming to work. Not much wonder they become disengaged and either leave the company physically or at least emotionally. To give you an example here, imagine a cook saying, “I’m a cook and I will cook. I am not willing to clean the bathrooms!”

Sign 2    Absenteeism and “presenteeism”

When individuals are not engaged they often find ways of not being present. This may be by being absent from the work place – not being engaged can reduce the immune system and people catch colds, get the flue and just generally feel more groggy. The result – they stay home. Billions of dollars are lost daily in the work place due to absenteeism.

It is interesting to  see those people who are in the right job are engaged. They love coming to work everyday because they know they are making a contribution to the success of the organization. This may be one reason many of these people do not let sickness keep them away.

One individual contracted a very serious health condition which would easily have allowed her to stay home as she went through treatment. This engaged individual was at work often and even did work from home on those days when she was too sick to come to the office. Some may see this as foolish; so be it. The fact remains this individual was engaged and wanted to continue to contribute even when seriously ill.

Some may wonder about the newly coined word “presenteeism”. This is your employee who comes to work physically, yet mentally is somewhere else. Perhaps they are thinking of their impending holiday, wedding, divorce, family member illness or a myriad of other things. When someone is staring off into space and not paying attention to the work at hand it could mean disaster, especially if there are safety issues to be considered.

When employees are away a lot either physically or emotionally it may be a sign you have a disengaged employee. Then it is time to find out how this could be changed by changing the “what or the how” of how they do the job.

Sign 3    Not hearing objections

A typical sign of disengagement is a lack of objections or discussion. Is the employee complacent? Doing exactly what he or she is told? Do they never ask questions about why the job is done this way or how the job could be done better? IF this is the case you may have a disengaged employee.

When people have the opportunity to question what they do and how they do it, they may come up with better ways. This means they are thinking, they are involved, and they are engaged.

If you hear crickets in your ear because the room is so silent when you ask for an opinion or an objective point of view, you know you have a problem

As leaders and managers of others we are not perfect. We too make mistakes. It is good when employees know we make mistakes and it is even more valuable when they hear us acknowledge our errors and what we learned from it. If our employees are allowed the same opportunity to question, to make mistakes, and to learn, there is more opportunity for them to be engaged.

When there are no objections you may think everything is glorious. It is not always so. Pay attention to the quiet!

Sign 4    Don’t shake the boat

Gossip and politics are present when engagement and productivity are not. Some people get involved in the gossip and rumors while others stay away from it. Many fear getting involved because they recognize the challenge of losing work friends and even worse, of getting into trouble with their bosses. It’s critical you address politics and gossip issues and put an end to them rather quickly. It may even mean letting someone go.

A recent client took action and let an individual go, not because of work productivity, but because the individual was creating a toxic environment with the rest of the staff. You cannot have a toxic environment and expect people to be engaged. They spend too much time reliving the negative aspects of the issues and not enough time working.

People want to know the right people – those are generally the ones who have the ear of the boss. If they cannot get to know the “right” people, they may not feel comfortable staying in their own jobs. The worst part of this is the recognition of not being part of the “in” group. This causes rifts within the ranks and causes those who are not part of this group to withdraw and often disengage. They don’t say anything because they may be viewed as troublemakers by their bosses or snitches by the rest of the staff. A no win situation!

In places where the office politics are rampant it is not unusual for those who cannot handle it to leave the organization and take their skills and their wisdom with them.

Today, many organizations conduct Employee Engagement Surveys to provide information on how the organization is meeting the needs of its employees. A great idea! However, sometimes employees provide positive feedback for fear of a lack of confidentiality. Later they may share different information with others. Glassdoor.ca is a Canadian site that provides an opportunity for individuals to make observations on their own companies. Not all these comments are positive even though the internal surveys suggest it is!

Sign 5    People often leave with a vague explanation as to why they are leaving

Many organizations today conduct exit interviews – the idea is a great one – find out why people are leaving your organization. Rarely is the answer straightforward. Most employees know the world is a small place today and they are not willing to overtly state the reason for their leaving. After all, it might get to the next boss and it might not be quite the same story.

Employees are wise. They know not to burn bridges – they may even want to come back to your organization in the future and so are not prepared to be as honest as is helpful to any Human Resources Department. Or, the individual likes to avoid conflict or the office politics that go on in any organization.

When you see many of your staff leaving for what they term “personal” reasons, the odds are there may be an engagement problem.

This is the reason many organizations who choose to use exit interviews have these conducted by an outside firm so all the information is confidential and people are possibly more open to being honest about their reasons for leaving.

Today, when there are fewer people to fill the positions which need to be filled, it is critical to examine your engagement processes. If people are not finding personal satisfaction they will leave. It is known that one should find another job before one leaves their present position. Many young people today do it differently. Even the young man who left his plumbing job did not have a job to go to. He left first and then thought about where he would go next.

Be the organization that works at providing an engaging work place. It is a benefit – you will retain more personnel which reduces your costs of recruiting. Start today!