If you consider yourself a "player's coach" – the type of business owner who is always looking out for employees' welfare – it can seem like a personal affront when a worker decides it's time to move on. In some cases, job-hopping hires do leave because of incongruent personalities.
However, newly released research suggests that workers who love their bosses may be as inclined to pursue something different as those who clash with their superiors.
Positive 'leader-member exchange' linked to loftier job titles
The study from the University of Illinois used a variety of human resources data from former employees who decided to quit with one company in order to look for greener pastures. In addition to what prompted the desire to go someplace else, researchers keyed in on something called "leader-member exchange," which is a specialized term that refers to the quality of relationships former employees had with prior supervisors.
Ravi Gajendran, professor of business administration at the University of Illinois and the study's principal investigator, indicated that there was a statistically significant correlation between the level of responsibility workers were given in their next job and how close they were with their former boss.
Gajendran noted how this finding runs counter to what prior research has suggested.
"Having a good relationship with your boss does reduce turnover to some extent, but given its relationship with improving job satisfaction and commitment, you would expect that it would also prevent people from leaving an organization," Gajendran explained. "If you're making people happier, it should stand to reason that they're more committed to the organization. But the numbers don't bear that out."
He went on to say that though it may seem counterintuitive, good workers will often leave an employer as a direct result of bosses investing in their staff and their best interests.
"What we find is, if you have a good manager, they're going to invest in you, they're going to develop you, you're going to become a better, more competent employee, which also means you're more in-demand as a worker," Gajendran said.
Being on good terms is critical
The study further clarified just how important it is for business owners to ensure that the mutual parting of ways be on good terms. Positive sentiment can be used to as "back-channel source of information," where prior workers' interactions and correspondence can result in a worker filling the hole that they left, the University of Illinois analysis revealed. It may even lead to a reunion down the road, where workers decide to come back.
Be it for more money or greater employee benefits, people job hop for any number of reasons. But so long as prior hires were good at what they did, business owners are nearly unanimous in welcoming their return should the opportunity present itself down the road. In a recent poll conducted by staffing services firm Accountemps, 98 percent of respondents said they'd have no problem re-hiring an ex-employee, or so-called "boomerang employees."
"Companies who part ways unprofessionally or don't take seriously the information they glean from exit interviews could miss out on bringing back someone great," said Bill Driscoll, Accountemps district president.
He added that one of the best things business owners can do is determine why former employees decided the company, at the time, was no longer for them. This can go a long way toward improving retention rates.
