WHAT KEEPS YOU AT YOUR JOB?

Vikas Shukla
Associate consultant
Corporate banking (Universal banking solutions)
i-flex Solutions ltd.

Why do you stay at your job? Now I know you need a paycheck but I mean beyond that. Why do you stay at that particular job?I tend to ask myself questions like that. I think about things like the ideal job I would like to have in 5, 10 or even 15 years from now.

I read a short white paper from Matthew Kelley. According to the paper:

Matthew Kelly is an internationally acclaimed speaker and New York Times bestselling author. His latest book, The Dream Manager deals specifically with the issues of employee engagement and turnover. Kelly is also the president of Floyd Consulting, a Chicago-based consulting firm founded on the belief that a company can only become the-best-version-of-itself to the extent that the people who drive that company in becoming better versions-of-themselves. Kelly's passion is helping people and organizations, identify and pursue their dreams.

Fair enough. The paper is called, The Turnover Dilemma: Keeping Employees by Fulfilling Dreams. It will be worth reading. There were some points on which I rely because these are true motivators for any individual to be there in his job. Let me explain some of those points:

First, the author said that employee turnovers cost big bucks to companies. He even has a use case. If you manage people and don't believe that turnover is costly, you need some basic training.

On his second point, and the main point of the paper, the author stated that:

If you asked most of the consultants in the field why employees voluntarily leave a job, they will give you some of the following answers…

1. The employee's relationship with his/her manager is dysfunctional.
2. The employee does not feel appreciated and valued.
3. The employee does not feel that his/her talents are being utilized. i.e. they feel like they have more to offer.
4. The employee has no way to measure his/her success or progress.

The author said that some of the above points will be true, but they aren't the real reasons why people leave. I am highly disagreeing with this stance.

I find reason number 1 to be the primary reason I have left jobs. And items 2 and 3 are biggies. 4 is not such an important reason but it is a good practice to provide your people the means to objectively KNOW when they are successful.

Kelly said that the main reason why professionals left their jobs is:

Because what they are doing in their job does not connect to what they dream to do.

For the most part, it is not our work that engages us, neither the money that our work brings into our lives… it is our dreams. Highly engaged employees have a dream and they are working towards that dream.

I do agree that the dream is important and even that money is not really motivating. But having a dysfunctional relationship with your manager precludes the possibility of being happy in your job.

When was the last your manager actually asked YOU what you were think or what YOU wanted instead of assuming they already knew or, even worse, asked someone you worked with. That really pisses me off. NO ONE knows what I am thinking. Don't ever assume you do.

So, reading that paper got me to thinking. What keeps me in my job? What keeps you in your job? Assuming that I have a dysfunctional relationship with my manager, is there anything I can do to fix it? Or, if my relationship is not dysfunctional, what is it that keeps me? What is it that keeps you?

I am curious…