What Motivates Turnover?

I mentioned in my last post that my complaining would eventually lead to larger discussions.  Today, I'd like to start one of those.

The reason I was complaining in my last post was mainly because my workload has shifted and increased significantly and multiple times over the course of the summer.  This type of thing has happened to me before, and I've talked to other people and read enough about it that I know this is a pattern that is not limited to my experience or the companies I have worked for.

Let's get into the full story.  My current role is one where there has historically been large amounts of turnover at this company.  I understand why that would be.  It's a fairly low level supply chain position, thus open to just about anyone with fairly minimal experience.  Many of the people that start in this position move on to better positions in the company or just move on with their careers in general.  I also understand that supply chain positions, especially one such as mine on the front line of a manufacturing environment, are challenging and not everyone is cut out for them.  It's rare that materials personnel are praised when things go right and goals are met, but when materials are short and goals are missed, we're usually the first department on which to place blame.

As I mentioned in my previous post, for good or ill, I'm built for this job.  I, like everyone, could use a bit more recognition from time to time, but, by and large, I don't mind taking some heat.  In fact, I usually work better when under a certain amount of pressure.

Here's the rub: pressure is a funny thing, and it's easy to go from good stress to bad stress.

Back to my story: Turnover has been historically high, but when I started I was rounding out a full department, and so I was given a reasonable workload that I could easily handle in an eight hour day.  In fact, on Fridays I would often have the chance to leave a little earlier than usual.  A few months into my stay, though, and things began to change.  There was a retirement, a misstep on a replacement, and suddenly our full department was short an individual.  At first we were promised this would be dealt with in all due haste, but that was late spring and the entire summer went by without refilling our department.

Here's my next tangent: every business I have ever worked for has a habit of losing people, then not replacing them.  For some, pushing more responsibilities onto fewer people and seeing if it would break was part of the business strategy.  I don't believe that's the case here, but I can't think of a worse idea.  I know every department everywhere wants more bodies, and there's usually some reasonable explanation for why the department is sized the way it is.  However, having a department set to a fairly optimal size, reducing that department when productivity demands on the individuals in the department are not falling (or worse, when they're rising), can only lead to disaster.  This is a major contributor to employees leaving because of burnout.

Going back to my story, as I said, we were promised we would not be asked to shoulder this increased workload for long.  I don't believe the reason we went the entire summer is anything other than large businesses move fairly slowly, and unfortunately our company just has to jump through a lot of bureaucratic hoops in order to hire someone.  The people left, though, were all qualified and willing to put in the extra effort with the knowledge that by the end of the year we would likely be back to our normal workload.

Had that been the case, my previous post would not have happened.  What actually happened was that another individual in my department found another opportunity.  The story there is long, but I won't get into it here as it's not mine to tell.  Suffice it to say that our department was effectively halved in a few months, and suddenly I went from being the least senior person in my department to the most senior person in my department.  I am also, as I mentioned, really good at my job, so, as one of my coworkers put it, I became "a victim of my own success."  The most difficult tasks were assigned to me, and I am now drowning in work.  My easy eight hour days have suddenly become exhausting ten hour days in which I leave three hours' worth of work on the table at the end of the day because I just can't focus any longer.

This is a trend, not a one off.  This has happened to me at every company I have ever worked for.  I don't sit on my hands.  I don't mess around at work.  I don't make my workload fill my day.  I have never had that kind of work ethic.  I find work to fill my day, and that's what has caused me problems time and again.

This work ethic is not the norm.  I know plenty of people that have this work ethic, but standard clock-punching employees by and large look for ways to do as little actual work in the time they're required to be at work as possible to continue to get paid.  It's something I've always rebelled against, but I know that's the norm.  The issue is, since I'm willing to put in the effort, I'm inevitably asked to do more than my peers.  This is the real issue I have with most businesses: people who are good at their work are generally rewarded with, you guessed it, more work.  Worst of all, people who are not all that good get to keep their jobs and do as little as possible, and the better employees have to pick up whatever slack those types of employees leave behind.

This, coupled with dumping extra work on employees in times of staff shortages and not lowering expectations of output, can only ever lead to burnout.  Employees leave companies because they are overworked and underappreciated.  When I left my previous employer, I was doing what had previously been four to five positions by myself.  I was overloaded, and it was affecting my health, so I started looking for another job.

The worse thing to happen, though, is not to lose that employee, but to keep that employee and lose what makes them a special employee.  I've seen others like me who, after numerous increases in responsibility, just begin to shut down.  Suddenly they don't care about getting their work done, because, frankly, no matter how hard they try, they're never going to finish.  That attitude is what causes the employees who come in to work to punch a clock, do as little as possible, and go home.

I know that there has to be a balance somewhere between what's good for the bottom line, and what's good for the employees.  Overwhelmed employees aren't doing excellent work; they're frantically flailing about trying to keep things from falling apart.  How long a person can do that before resigning, physically or mentally, is not something a business should be trying to figure out.  Businesses should look to keep their employees satisfied in their positions, because happier employees are more productive, and more likely to go out of their way when things really do require extra effort.  Also, do I really need to explain how expensive hiring and training new employees is?

Here's the long and short: good employees do a good job because they want to.  Pushing them to do more and overwhelming them with responsibilities is a surefire way to kill morale, reduce productivity, and, eventually, lose them.  Treat employees well, and they'll treat your business well.

Back to the Old Grind

It's funny how, no matter where you go or what you change, at some point, you always end up back where you started.

I'm not saying that's 100% true, but, man, it takes an awful lot of work to make lasting change, doesn't it?

Example: I wasn't terribly happy with my life in high school.  I was socially awkward, fairly obnoxious, and found myself generally angry a lot of the time for reasons I couldn't always define.  My solution: move hours and hours away to a place where i knew no one and no one knew me.  That way, I could redefine myself however I wanted.  The result: I left college with one lasting friendship, which actually began because I was moody and obnoxious.  Sound familiar?

How about another example: I was presented with an amazing opportunity to move across the country and take over the entire supply chain for an entire manufacturing facility in Southern California.  Within two years, my wife and I were ready to move back.  The biggest lesson we had learned: California is weird and expensive.

Most recently, I began a job with a new company for the first time in over seven years.  That was February.  It's been a mere seven months, and I already feel like I'm caught in the same story arc as I was at my last job.  I'm a cog in a machine, destined to be no more than that.  I might get slightly more recognition as the least beat up cog in that machine, but that will change in time, and I'll be right back where I started.

I'm not saying I haven't learned anything throughout all of this.  I've uncovered parts of my identity I don't think I would have learned in different ways.  I've decided that career isn't as important as I once did, and I'm a lot more concerned with trying to find happiness outside of the workplace.

That being said, I still wish there was a way to find some measure of happiness inside of the workplace.  You know, seeing as I spend 40-50 hours a week there (which, if you don't count the time I'm in bed, is more than I spend in my own house), you'd think being unhappy there all the time might start to affect other parts of my life.

You'd be right.

I'm starting to feel the strain at work.  I know all business have flaws and all workplaces have challenges that have to be overcome, but things seem to be stacking up at my current place of employment.  My duties have changed multiple times in the past two to three months alone, and suddenly I'm actually the second most senior employee in my department (yeah, the one I started working for just seven short months ago).  I was recently designated the head trainer for my department, which, while pretty cool and right in my wheel house, has only added to my already maxed out workload.

So, let's bring this back around.  I left my previous employer because I was in a place where I was feeling completely overworked every day.  I was always unhappy.  I hated getting up in the morning, and would call in sick multiple times a year just because I couldn't get the motivation to get myself out of bed to go in to work.  I hated that job by the end, and when I received the offer from my current employer, I didn't even bother trying to negotiate with my previous employer; no reasonable amount of money was going to make me happy enough to stay where I was.

Why does that matter now?  Well, I'm not quite there yet with my current employer, but I can certainly see why the turnover ratio is as high in my department as it is.  We're understaffed currently, and recent developments make me believe that there is little chance that will ever change.  The expectations for the performance of the people in my department are varied, and often conflicting.  The role is not well defined and often overwhelming in it's potential scope.

I am fully aware of my strengths, and my limitations.  It has taken a multitude of experiences, some of which I outlined above, but after all that and more, I know myself fairly well.  Here is what I am sure of:

I am good at my line of work.  I am dedicated, focused, and seemingly built to do what it is that I do.  For good or ill, I am more capable than your average bear, at least in my current career.

That being said, I am also sure that what is being asked of the people in my department is not possible, even for me, unless I am willing to spend more than 50 hours a week devoted to my job.  50 hours a week is already more than I am really interested in dedicating to a part of my life that I'm not getting joy out of, especially when it takes me away from time with my family.  I'm certainly not going to spend more time on something like that, and my compensation, while fair, does not cover that kind of commitment.  I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that there needs to be a balance in my life between career and family, and right now I'm not happy with the balance I have.  I am certainly not willing to tip it further in favor of work over family.

I'm in a difficult place right now.  I don't hate my job, but I am finding it more and more difficult to like.  I don't want to look for a new job, but I have made my needs known to my manager with little effect.  I have things that are being asked of me that will have direct effects on whether or not I get any kind of bonus or raises/promotions in the coming year, but I have little incentive other than money to take the time necessary to complete those things.  Frankly, the amount of money involved isn't enough to make it worth the time I'd much rather spend with my family.  Even know, as I type this, I'm not alone; my son is sitting my lap trying to play with the new keyboard I just installed.

I think this will lead to a few larger discussions, but today I just needed to get back into the flow of writing, and, honestly, complain a bit to a few random people on the internet who might actually read this.  If you're one of those people, thank you for listening.