There is a business axiom, taken as gospel amongst HR professionals, speakers, pundits, and authors trying to sell books that I despise with every fiber of my being:
“People don’t leave their job, they leave their manager.”
This, my friends, is not only a cliché but a load of crap.
I long ago determined that, boiled down to its essence, this is merely an easy way for leaders and HR professionals to avoid any sort of blame for a shitty work experience.
It’s ever so much easier to lay the blame at the doorsteps of managers.
Are there bad managers? God yes; read reddit.
But there are, more often than not, GREAT managers whose hands are tied by corporate policies and edicts from HR.
- There are managers who would love to give you a raise but can’t because corporate HR and/or Finance has decided that raises are disseminated once per year. (So you’re out of luck Bob!)
- There are managers who disagree with the scheduling rules and attendance polices. They would love to offer some flexibility as they KNOW you must drop your kid at the bus stop at 7:30 AM and if the bus is late or there is traffic you will NOT be able to arrive at your desk by 8 AM. (Sorry Bob! 8 AM does not mean 8:05!)
- There are managers who agree you should be able to take PTO on a given day during your first month of employment – or for an extended period of time – but their hands are tied by the HR policy that forbids either the use of unpaid PTO (before its “earned”) or PTO that lasts beyond a week. (Guess you’ll have to miss that family wedding Bob!)
- There are managers, sitting behind the doors of closed conference rooms, ARGUING (loudly) with HR and other organizational leaders to eliminate oppressive and demoralizing policies.
- There are managers, behind the scenes, trying to beg-borrow-steal to find budget dollars to spend on professional development and learning activities for their staff – when the company doesn’t realize that employees will leave if not provided with opportunities for growth.
- There are managers who – even if they can’t say-it-out-loud at a team meeting – are rolling their eyes (soooooo deeply rolling their eyes backwards into the sockets) at the fraudulent and deceptively touted “company values” that are as fake as Anna Delvey.
- There are managers encouraging and advocating for their employees every-single-day…when the organization fails to do so…
So please – pundits, bloggers, and HR folks – stop taking the easy-way-out and using the communicatory abbreviation that “people leave managers not companies.”
People ARE leaving your company because you’ve failed them.
Time to say good-bye.
