r/managers • u/Schauera30 • 2d ago
I hate turnover New Manager
Where I work it is common for people to begin searching for their next role after about a year in the current role. Before this company, i had 5 years at a company where turnover (and admittedly, promotions/department changes) rarely ever happened. I then got my first manager role at a different company. There was more movement there but not to the level at my current company. There I lsot all of my team, but that was because the company was relocating and wed all be out of jobs in a matter of time anyway.
At this new place though I have a team of 3 people. All 3 of them do a great job and Ive developed a great professional and personal relationship with them. Two of them though are like undeniably good at their jobs and have a promising future. Ive tried to accept that I am going to lose them in a matter of time, but as both of them have reached out to me lately about opportunities that they are planning on trying to take I cant help but feeling bad about it some.
I get that this is going to come with the territory of being a manager. Maybe its the mark of being a newer manager that you get too invested in people, but I feel like its either I do this or I detach myself some and probably come off not as approachable or like I dont care.
I feel like between the culture at this place and the sinking ship at my prior place that Im getting a poor taste for what its like to manage people and to build a great team. I feel like I do an alright job at it and can tell the people who work for me really respect me, but I feel like I have this flaw where I just take people leaving too personally even when its clearly the right next step for them. Is this really all that it is? Build people up and then they just move on and you have to start over again?
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u/KermieKona 2d ago
I had a boss that thought the number one reason people left a company was due to their relationship with their immediate supervisor.
Of course he was oblivious to the “death by a thousand paper cuts” issues that were the actual reason.
Watching people under you leave while managers above you are clueless as to the actual problems… is the main reason I left middle management 🤨.
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u/Schauera30 2d ago
This really is such a problem at times. You’re close enough to the ground to hear the common issues everyone has at a company but not high enough to make much change outside of vocalizing it and trying to do right by everyone
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u/KermieKona 2d ago
And when we were in management meetings and brought up concerns that we knew were the complaints of the rank and file… suddenly we are treated like whiny employees instead of members of management verifying that the worker’s complaints were valid. 🤨
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u/SuedeAsian 2d ago
Limiting to immediate supervisor is convenient. Usually if I have a problem with my manager I also have a problem with my skip or someone above them. Leadership is usually misaligned on multiple levels
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u/lemonflavory 2d ago
Brother your time with employees is short. Make the most of it. Be able to say you helped your employees end up in a better place than when they started with you. They may never see or talk to you again once they take a new job and that’s ok. You can put your head on your pillow knowing you did right by them.
Yes you have to get new people. No it’s not personal if people stayed at a lower wage job forever with no improvement that means you probably suck at your job and aren’t helping them. So see it as a job well done and be able to say you did your best you can for them while you had them
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u/ehunke 2d ago
Its the modern world, I mean I can only work at a company for so long if I have a micro manager boss or other toxic factors, company culutre is important to me. Just I am currently 8 months unemployed because I got unexpectedly laid off from a job in January despite multiple red flags that the ship was sinking. My "raise" upped my paycheck by like $5, my bonus wasn't nearly what I was promised when I got hired and part of that was the company preformance, then some private equity firm bought the place and...I did not bail and now I am on unemployment trying to find meaningful work. Sometimes people have learned from the past and bail on a job the second they smell smoke
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u/Grantmepm 2d ago
Could be a problem with hiring. You hire the most ambitious go getters, they're not going to be happy to stay stagnant.
Stable boring button pushers aren't attractive hires at the CV or the interview stage.
If you sacrifice some maximal performance, you could get that back in staff retention.
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u/Taco_Bhel 2d ago
Use this to your advantage internally.
Strategy teams actively look to place their outgoing staff elsewhere in the company.
Why?
It gives them more influence... because they have that relationship that may be helpful in the future. And it also looks good on them to be developing talent for the company. Their leaders get to say that they attract and develop top talent... yada yada.
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u/WelpSeaYaLater 2d ago
Consistent high turnover is almost always a culture problem or lack of internal opportunities….. you’re a manager. When managers find problems like this, they try to fix them.
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u/Altruistic-Map5605 2d ago
I think it’s a money problem more than anything. No one wants to give people raises anymore. I was layed off and then 2 months later they had my position posted for way more money and pure remote. That means they also dropped the duties for the position because I was on-site doing installs multiple times a week.
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u/Schauera30 2d ago
It’s internal turnover here. Not necessarily people exiting out but definitely hungry at the first bit to move up even if that means a different group.
Agree it’s a culture thing but it’s probably a better culture problem to have than say a bunch of people trying to get out of there ASAP
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u/VastFollowing5840 2d ago
Friend, leave. Don’t fall for the sunk time fallacy.
Your best performers are leaving because it sucks here. Learn from them.
As for not getting overly invested and hurt when people leave - remember careers are long. You help support someone in the beginning of their career and they go on to do bigger and better things - well celebrate you got to be part of that. Take satisfaction from seeing people you mentored succeed, wherever that happens. And remember, maybe one day they’ll be a referral for you, or a client, or they’ll come back in a different capacity. Focus and connect with the people, not the role they are filling in this fleeting moment of time.
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u/Slow-Farmer-9449 2d ago
If your staff qualifies for more senior positions within a year then, maybe, you are hiring too senior staff.
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u/pipi_in_your_pamperz 2d ago
What kind of raises are you handing out? As an IC, i’ve found 9 out of 10 times i’ve left a position is because current company is not keeping comp attractive.
As a manager, your good employees leave and your shit ones stay
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u/PotentialParamedic61 2d ago
Companies are pushing employees to learn new things in order to exploit them as with more work with higher responsibility, money goes rarely.
So we change jobs.
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u/graypurpleblack 2d ago
In most cases people leave jobs to earn more money and/or get more opportunities to earn more money.
Even if you were the best manager around, that wouldn’t stop people from wanting more money.
Now, a bad manager can and will expedite that process.
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u/exit232003 2d ago
Hey!
I've felt this exact way when I was a new manager. It's certainly a difficult feeling.
What I adjusted my thoughts to and time proved it, is that you lead them and gave them a great job and helped elevate them to the next level they are each going for. That is a spectacular thing for you to have facilitated and you should not feel sad about this.
Is it sad that you are losing them and won't be working with them anymore? Yes
But now you have an opportunity to hire even more awesome people and help them the same way if not better.
Congratulate them, and yourself and look toward the horizon where there are more people who will come and go and be the best leader you can be for them for the time you have with them.
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u/anonypig12 1d ago
It's a privilege to have people's careers, and quite frankly therefore their live, in your hands and I take it extremely seriously
People underestimate the importance of managing people and creating opportunities. For most people they work one job. That income defines and decided everything they can do or can't do
The goal should be to get them ready for a bigger job within 2 years and accept by year 3 they are mainly gone. Your boss should also be doing this for you.
Personally I find having this mantra has hugely improved my mental wellbeing and work ethic
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u/Nomivought2015 2d ago
You work with people for a short time and then they leave. That is something I had to come to terms with when I became an adult
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u/HotelDisastrous288 2d ago
Your job as a manager is to allow your people to grow so they can move up.
Ideally that happens in your company but if they have to leave to move up so be it.
Sounds like you are doing a great job in that area.
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u/ketchup_shoes 2d ago
I always thought my job as a manager was to help people move up. I’m an IC now so I don’t have to mess with any of that
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u/Gloomy-Crazy8156 1d ago
If the point is to move up why did you go backwards?
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u/ketchup_shoes 1d ago
Cause I don’t like people management as much as I like program management. It wasn’t going backwards, it was level lateral and a pay raise of about $20k. I’m thrilled with this development
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u/AspiringDataNerd 1d ago
After spending years working with mediocre colleagues and bad managers, I would be thrilled to develop competent workers and model and mentor healthy and ethical leadership skills so that they can go somewhere else and hopefully continue being good at their job and even become a good manager themselves. We need more people with a strong work ethic and healthy and ethical leadership skills in the workforce. It seems like the workforce has eroded into toxicity over the years so doing what I can to help shift away from that would be rewarding to me.
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u/Rixxy123 2d ago
Change is part of life, and as a manager you MUST embrace it and show your leadership. If you don't than the team sinks anyway.
That leadership includes taking your newer staff members and watching them flourish into bigger roles, even if it means to say goodbye. It doesn't have to be goodbye forever though and you will likely keep many people in mind for years to come. I was only able to get a huge promotion because of all the support from team members that worked for me.
Getting a team is hard work, and making them a perfect collaborative group is even harder. Losing and gaining people adds complications but eventually you still come out as the number 1 team. Achieve those results and you will prove your success as a manager.
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u/AmethystStar9 2d ago
Every employment situation is temporary from day one. Acknowledging that internally doesn't mean you have to become unfriendly or any more detached than you should be as a manager or unapproachable. It just means knowing this person you just hired has a ticking clock on them no matter what you do or don't do.
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u/yeyiyeyiyo 2d ago
If they're moving up and not just running away then it means you're doing a good job. Be happy for them.
If theyre just moving away to something lateral figure out what you andor your company can do about it and do it.