员工辞职理由五花八门 最大问题可能不是薪水

想象一下，你是一家公司的高层，本来日子过得安安稳稳，不料突如其来的噩耗毁掉了一切：你手下一位经验丰富、对公司也很重要的高管走进办公室，宣布要辞职另谋高就。毕竟，供不应求的就业市场上大家都在全力挖掘顶尖人才，猎头也都忙着发掘更高明的方式以吸引所谓的被动求职者——也就是并未主动求职的人，其中就包括一旦离开便对你打击巨大的关键人才。

简单对策是加薪，但可能作用不大。因为竞争对手也可以用这招。更重要的是，辞职本身往往和薪资无关。

高管求职平台Ladders最近调查了1.65万名正在换工作的注册会员（其中83%的成员年收入在8万到25万美元），结果让研究人员颇为意外。在调查的多种行业和职能岗位中，仅有约三分之一（占比30%）受访者表示离职是因为不满意薪水，其中大多数从事医疗健康、人力资源、市场营销和销售方面的工作。

几乎所有行业的受访者都提到了两大离职原因：一是对工作感到厌倦，二是工作时间长。研究发现，金融、工程、项目管理和信息技术领域的人士对这两点尤其不满。

不过，在这些行业里因为反感上司而离职的人倒是相对较少。Ladders首席执行官马克·塞内德拉指出：“过去人们常说，辞职就是炒掉上司。但到了高管层面似乎不适用。”只有不到五分之一（占比19%）的受访者因讨厌老板决定离职。

那么，领导者如何才能留住最优秀的人才？如果公司看来运转良好（至少现在看起来还好），可以将人才岗位分布列个清单，然后在百忙中抽出时间坐下来，跟这些人好好谈一谈。

企业领导能力开发顾问公司Fierce的执行副总史黛西·恩格说：“谁都不会一夜之间厌烦自己的工作，或者突然因为工作太多觉得精疲力竭。”据她观察，通常情况是员工“不满情绪逐渐滋长，然后突然决定辞职。人们对工作的挫折感逐步累积，终于有一天无法继续忍受。”如果认同这点，你的任务应该是及早介入，防止挫败情绪增长。

恩格还说，采取行动时，一定不要问“感觉怎样”之类太含糊其辞的问题，“对方听到可能心生抵触，猜测你只想听到一句‘还好’。”为了提高手下优秀的经理人拒绝猎头的可能性，“你要更深层次地沟通，敷衍的问题显然达不到效果。”

你不妨试试对他们提出以下三个问题：

1、你觉得有哪些因素影响工作？“这是一个颇有深意的问题，”恩格指出，“但值得一试。”主要因为这个问题等于让对方发牢骚，比如流程效率低下、团队成员不服从指挥，或者其他难忍的事。恩格说：“关键是把这个问题作为出发点，接着细细追问，甚至可以进一步深入，问：‘还有呢？还有什么？’”

2、两个月之后有什么规划？恩格解释说，“两个月的时间不算长，但足够制定一些可以实现的短期目标”，比如每周至少有两晚按时回家吃晚餐，或者完成一个以前搁置的有趣项目。当然也可以把期限延久一些，比如问今后一两年的打算。恩格认为，“这样的问答讨论可以重新看待对方的技能和经验，也给了对方一个改变的机会，看要不要抽时间出游，或者调去公司的其他部门或者去海外工作。我们发现，越来越多公司鼓励经理人平级调动，进入其他的部门学习新东西。”

3、你在公司希望实现的目标是什么？有趣的是，在Ladder调查的几乎所有行业，一半以上的受访者都表示，现在这份工作最棒之处就是，“我知道自己在提供有价值的服务。” 人们工作是希望让这个世界（或者至少自己的公司和利益相关方）某种程度上变得更好，而不仅仅是挣一份收入。恩格认为，如果你询问最优秀的手下这个问题，就可以帮助“在公司的愿景和个人目标之间建立更紧密的纽带。”郑重对待他们的回答，还可能有助于防止他们为追求个人梦想另寻别处。（财富中文网）

本文作者安妮·费希尔是职场专家，也是提供职场建议的专栏作家。她在《财富》杂志开设“解决问题”（Work It Out）专栏，向读者提供21世纪的工作与生活指南。

译者：Pessy

审校：夏林

So there you are, Mr. or Ms. Big Enchilada, having a fairly decent day, when it’s abruptly ruined: Yet another of your most experienced and valuable senior people walks into your office with the awful news that he or she is leaving for a better job elsewhere. In this squeaky-tight job market, after all, everyone is out to poach your top talent, and recruiters are busy finding ever more ingenious ways to entice so-called passive candidates—the ones who aren’t even job hunting, the people you can least afford to lose.

Offering more money would be a simple fix, but it probably won’t help. Your competitors have it, too. More to the point, this usually isn’t about the Benjamins.

When executive job board Ladders recently surveyed 16,500 of its job-switching members (83% of them with annual salaries between $80,000 and $250,000), the researchers got a surprise. Across a wide range of industries and functions, only about one in three (30%) mentioned pay, and most of those were concentrated in health care, human resources, marketing, and sales.

Instead, in almost every field, the two reasons most often cited for flying the coop were boredom and long hours—especially, the study notes, in finance, engineering, project management, and IT.

Dissatisfaction with higher-ups, by the way, is relatively rare in these circles. “It’s a cliche by now to say that people don’t quit jobs, they quit managers,” observes Marc Cenedella, CEO of Ladders. “But at this level, that doesn’t seem to apply.” Fewer than one in five (19%) gave dislike of a boss as a factor in their decision to quit.

What can you do to hang on to your best people? First, while things seem to be going well (right now, for instance), make a list of who they are. Then, block out time in your already-packed schedule to sit each one down for a real conversation.

“Nobody wakes up one morning all of a sudden bored with their job, or feeling exhausted by endless hours,” says Stacey Engle, an executive vice president at leadership-development consultants Fierce. Rather, what she often sees in companies is that people quit “gradually, then suddenly. Someone’s frustration with their position builds up and builds up over time, until they’ve just had it.” Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to step in and stop that process.

Whatever you do, Engle adds, do not ask, “How’s it going?” The question is far too vague, and “people who hear it may shut down, assuming the only answer you want to hear is, ‘Fine.'” To raise the odds that a talented manager will brush off the next headhunter who calls, “you need to connect on a deeper level. This question doesn’t get you there.”

Three questions that might:

1. What is something you feel is holding you back? “This is a loaded question,” Engle notes, “but it’s worth asking”—in large part because it’s an invitation to kvetch about, for instance, inefficient processes, recalcitrant team members, or outrageous hours. Says Engle, “It’s critical to start there and then ask probing questions, even digging down to ‘What else? What else? What else?'”

2. What would you like to be doing two months from now? “Two months isn’t long, but it’s enough time to set short-term, attainable goals,” like getting home in time for dinner at least a couple of nights a week, or finishing an interesting project that’s been pushed to the back burner, Engle says. You can also ask about a longer time horizon, of course—say, a year or two. Use the discussion as a chance to “look at someone’s skills and experience with fresh eyes,” she suggests, and offer him or her a change if it seems called for—”sometimes more, or less, travel, or a role in another part of the company or another part of the world. We’re seeing more companies encouraging managers to make lateral moves into areas where they can learn new things.”

3. What difference do you want to make here? It’s interesting that, in almost every field, well over half of Ladders’ survey respondents said the “best part of my current job” is “knowledge that I’m providing a valuable service.” Wanting to make the world (or, at the very least, the company and its stakeholders) better off in one way or another is, beyond a paycheck, why humans go to work. Asking your best people about it, Engle believes, can help build “a greater connection to their individual purpose, and the purpose of the organization.” Taking their answers seriously might even help keep them from taking their individual purpose out the door.

Anne Fisher is a career expert and advice columnist who writes “Work It Out,” Fortune’s guide to working and living in the 21st century.