Employees Quit Too Often... Why?

English

Haebom

May 13, 20242m

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet the team leader of a company preparing for a large-scale listing. While eating and talking about various things, we mentioned that recently employees have been quitting their jobs because they work too short a time. The team leader thought that the reason for this was, “There was sales pressure ahead of the listing, and the resulting increase in work intensity led to my resignation.” After listening to the situation, I felt like I wasn't able to understand the cause, so I asked two people working on the team to meet separately for a meal.

The team in question was essentially working as a Project Manager. I was working as a manager, planning, etc., and was involved in the overall work including planning, development, and operation.

A much-needed boundary-crosser, but insufficient support

If you work at a company, collaboration between departments and teams is essential. At one time, there were services called silo organizations that specialized in a specific field and operated independently by intentionally creating partitions. However, since everything cannot be done within a silo, the role of a ‘ boundary transcender ’ who breaks down partitions within an organization and connects disconnected departments is becoming increasingly important.

However, recent research suggests that employees who engage in such collaborations can easily burn out due to cognitive overload and emotional strain. This burnout can lead to negative attitudes and behaviors, which can have a negative impact not only on the boundary-crossing individual but also on the organization as a whole.

Hidden Price: Cognitive Overload and Emotional Strain

In fact, the manpower that is used this way performs a variety of tasks. We frequently communicate with marketing/development/design experts and work hard in many ways to complete the project. The biggest problem with these organizations is that they do not acknowledge this work, considering it a “chore” or “something that has to be done.”

Collaboration between various departments is a higher level of work than you might think. We use a variety of cognitive resources, including work styles, communication methods, technology, and context. If this continues for a long time, the person in charge feels like he or she is being consumed. The two people mentioned above both had a strong desire for growth, and both wanted to change jobs, surprisingly, because they did not feel like they were growing. You can instill a vision in them with nice words and get them to work for a while, but this is a situation where sustainability is greatly reduced because they already feel betrayed by the organization (company).

Furthermore, this suggests that it can lead to sabotage, which in turn can lead to inappropriate behavior in the workplace. This can also pose a serious threat to people who work across other boundaries.

Solution: Organizational support for connection and recovery

Organizations can utilize the following strategies to help employees collaborate well across departments without burning out:

Collaborate across departments Formalize roles and set clear expectations

Include cross-functional collaboration in formal job descriptions and set clear expectations for the role.

For example, a front-end developer job might specify collaboration with marketing and back-end development teams.

Support for development of necessary capabilities and recognition of achievements 🌟🌟🌟

We support the skills and training required for collaboration (communication, negotiation, cultural understanding, etc.).

Establish a recognition and reward system for cross-departmental collaboration achievements. Example: Awarding and providing incentives for “outstanding cross-team collaboration”

Establishing multifaceted communication channels and ensuring adequate rest

We operate various communication channels to identify signs of employee burnout.

One-on-one meetings, observation of changes in work attitudes, periodic surveys, etc.

We create an environment and culture where employees can separate themselves from work during off-hours. Example: Minimizing the need for immediate response outside of working hours

This is usually the reason why people who perform a certain job quit every 1-3 years or less. The solution is clear, but it is also something that must be handled directly by the company's middle managers or CEO. These people, whom I describe as boundary-crossers, work really hard. But they say that even if they work hard, there is nothing left. Why? ‘I don’t feel like I’m growing.’, ‘I’m treated as a waste of human resources.’, ‘No one recognizes my hardships.’ 'I don't get recognition.' I met a total of 25 people during a recent Kkochi Coach session, and more than half of the clients expressed the same thing. Special juniors had similar experiences. These days, I am providing organizational culture and organizational diagnosis as a hobby rather than consulting, and I feel that discovering and solving these problems is more meaningful than I thought. (There are times when you can’t tell the internal culture/human resources team. ~_~)

Anyway, half jokingly, I think the saying that PMs are handymen is a self-deprecating expression that has been spread because many people take on tasks that are not actually the PM's job. Let's respect each other's work and communicate that we appreciate what someone does to connect us. Even if it's not necessarily a PM, there will definitely be someone who plays that role in our company, organization, team, relationship, etc.

The train has a part called a coupler. Connect two heavy trains by leaving some space without intentionally fastening them strongly. Thanks to this space, the train can run even when there are track problems, deceleration, acceleration, etc., or shocks. In fact, the job of the Project Manager is the role of this coupler. Stay connected, but take your time and help each team achieve its best performance. Because this important coupler is located underneath the train, it is very difficult for passengers to see it directly. But without this, trains can't pull each other to move.

If there are people like Coupler in our work, let's ask them about their gratitude and difficulties. I'm sure we can work together for a long time. I got a little emotional so the post became longer.