More than one-third of executives in a recent survey said good employees are most likely to quit their jobs because of unhappiness with management. This is up from 23 percent when the question was asked five years ago. Limited opportunities for advancement was the second most common answer, cited by 33 percent of respondents.  Lack of recognition was cited by 13 percent, 13 percent stated inadequate salary and/or benefits, and 1 percent said good employees left because they were bored.

What is interesting (to me) about this survey is that it relates to “good employees”, and I’ll assume this group is one level above “average” or “minimally acceptable”.   And I’m thrilled that the 1000 executives that took part in this survey finally have come around to the Employees Quit a Boss, Not a Company way of thinking…  awareness is the first step to change.

Even more pleasing to Employee Hold’em (my little company)?  Only one in eight executives thought the reason an employee left was for money, even for “good” employees.   Remember, the average employee making the average amount of money leaves a job for about $15/week, leas than $800 a year.  Nearly three times as many executives (finally) understand that providing opportunities for advancement is more critical than cash.  EXCELLENT.  Employees want the ability to “move up, move over, or they’re going to move out”.

Finally, the survey findings showed that the employers’ greatest staffing concern is employee retention.  Duh.

Hiring isn’t as much of an issue with another 2.5 million people available to work than this same time last year.  And retention does have a significant impact on cost reduction, improved worker productivity and through-put, customer satisfaction, and the bottom line.

See, executives don’t always have their head in the sand!