Do Managers Create as Much Stress as Spouses?

The answer is “yes”, according to a remarkable new study published last week by SHRM. The study covers the overall impact of managers on employees’ mental health and goes on to say…

“An employee’s manager has greater influence on that employee’s mental health than therapists and doctors…and an equal influence to spouses and partners.”^[i]

The study adds that while 9 of 10 HR and c-suite leaders said working for their company had a positive impact on mental health, only half of the employees agreed. And a full 81% of employees said that their mental health was a higher priority at work than their salary. More tidbits from the study:

1. One in three said their manager fails to recognize the impact they have on their team’s mental well-being.
2. Nearly three in four said stress from work negatively impacts their home life.
3. Two-thirds would take a pay cut for a job that better supports their mental wellness.

With all that having been said, this column here is about Targeting Turnover. So while some of these findings are astonishing, for example the managers-equal-spouses part, let’s re-direct our discussion to how much managers drive turnover. And the incredibly-wrong approach most companies take to fix it.

If They Leave for Mental Health, They’ll Leave for Poor Management

Think for a moment about two-thirds of employees would take a pay cut for a job that better supports their mental illness. Then consider this finding the next time a good employee leaves an ineffective manager and you record their leaving as for more money…or worse, better opportunity. That good employee is instead running away from a jerk boss and money didn’t matter.

Do You Bite the Apple on Turnover?

Regular readers here know that what is written below is our mantra, based not only on scores of research studies but also by C-Suite Analytics’ remarkable success at consistently helping client companies cut turnover by 20%-plus by implementing solutions based on it:

• The #1 reason employees stay or leave…or for that matter engage or disengage…is how much they trust their immediate supervisors.

• This does NOT mean each time an employee quits it is because she doesn’t trust her boss…though that might be true.

• It DOES mean each individual leader becomes your very best employee retention solution.

Gallup backs these findings by discovering that first-line supervisors drive a full 70% of their team’s engagement.

For some reason I associate these three statements about leader trust and turnover as whether someone who totally believes them “bites the apple”, my way of saying do you accept these three statements to be true. Let’s suppose your answer if “yes”, that you accept these three phrases as absolute truths. Then you must rethink the following if you are serious about cutting turnover:

• How much does pay influence turnover because pay has no relation to managers’ building trust.
• The same with benefits.
• The same with onboarding.
• The same with employee relations programs like employee appreciation events.
• The same with service awards.
• The same with company or department social events.
• The same with career ladders.
• The same is true with exit surveys.
• The same with every one-size-fits-all program your employee engagement committee initiates after receiving survey results.

That’s a lot of words that describe a lot of meetings, energy, and cost. None of them involve managers building trust so therefore none of them have much influence on cutting turnover.

If you bite the apple…

One would think, then, that educated executives, HR and otherwise, would study turnover by manager and hold those managers accountable to retention goals…rather than focus on pay, benefits, and one-size-fits-all employee programs. This is basic to cutting employee turnover…the entry step for success…yet less than 10% of companies actually do it.

There Has Not Been an Established Solution for Cutting Turnover

Consider your HR department’s organization chart. Depending on your company’s size you will find someone in charge of development, someone in charge of compensation, and the same with benefits, recruiting, and employee relations. I would bet $100 though that you have no one in charge of retention. And no HR function is more important during “The Great Resignation” than retention.

The reason is there are no HR retention specialists is because there is no established solution for employee retention. There are related activities like exit surveys, but no one can tell you that if you do this and that, turnover will fall. SHRM’s website lists all of the HR topics SHRM can help its members with, but that list omits any reference to turnover or retention.

Let’s end with great news. There is an established solution for employee turnover…and you can find that solution throughout the C-Suite Analytics site. Start here to learn our comprehensive turnover solution, and watch the inserted 2-minute video to open your eyes to fresh thinking for cutting turnover 20% and more.

Call me directly if you want to discuss this more…407.694.3390.

You Can Cut Turnover by 20% or More Even During “The Great Resignation”

Schedule a conversation with me at DFinnegan@C-SuiteAnalytics.com to discuss your employee retention roadblocks and I’ll share ideas for how you can move forward and what is working for other companies to cut turnover by 20% and more, even during The Great Resignation that may benefit you.

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[i] https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/manager-mental-health-of-employees.aspx#:~:text=Report%3A%20Managers%20Have%20Bigger%20Impact%20on%20Employee%20Mental%20Health%20than%20Therapists,-%23Eve%20Glicksman&text=A%20new%20report%20by%20the,influence%20to%20spouses%20and%20partners.