Manager's fault?

[Gangshow]

If 4 people from a team resigned in a very short space of time, would you think the manager had something to do with it?

Or has just been unlucky?

Yes. Usually one jumps ship and the others get unsettled and jump soon after.

Not necessarily, sometimes it just takes one person to leave and a light switch goes on for others- particularly after Covid - work is for a lot of people taking second place now

I would think it was a toxic work environment. Why would so many people be leaving if it was a great place to work? So either it’s the managers, work load, work life balance or another colleague that is to blame.

I left one job due to a supervisor.. she was a bully and as I didn’t get drawn into things she was making work difficult so I left.

another job I left because it was poorly run , wih no support from head office and staff that didn’t give a shit, lazy and work shy. The only decent thing was the actual new manager and 1 colleague both hard working.

Not always, I used to be a call centre manager. A new call centre opened in town and 12 staff left to go there are the hours were better and 75p more an hour

We’ve just had 3 staff hand their notice but the job role has changed slightly and also our manager is leaving so I think they’ve just realised they are ready to move on

Not enough info

If they all started around the same time, it could just be circumstance. But you'd keep an eye on things

Thanks all - I believe one has mentioned the manager in reasons to move, but the others haven't.

Not necessarily, depends on the circumstances.

Has there been someone else join the team who is difficult to work with?

Have the staff who left been at stages of their career where they are ready to progress or retire?

If the answer to those is no, and the manager is fairly new in post then I'd say yes

Depends on the context. Have there been other issues like being short staffed? Have they been through changes that have impacted their work? Has it been a stressful period for the team?

I would assume either the line manager or the wider organisation have issues.

I joined an organisation about 14 months ago.

In my first month 2 people resigned at the same time in my team which made me suspicious.

Since then it became clear that the organisation in general has a ridiculous staff turnover.

It is a combination of low-ish salaries & difficult work mean that they either can't recruit or can't retain people. Being short-staffed then puts additional pressure on existing staff.

In November only 5 people left in an organisation that has only about 40 employees.

I am about to start job hunting because I don't see any long term prospects in this company for me.

A lot of it is to do with poor management I must say.

Not necessarily.

It could be the manager's fault, certainly. That would be a sensible possibility to consider. But it could be something else entirely.

Four people leaving at once could be just coincidence. Or one person going might have inspired the others to consider their options.

It could be that a competitor is poaching staff or simply that they're offering better terms and conditions.

It could be that there is general discontent or uncertainty in the sector as a whole that may be beyond the manager's control. Or massive technological change etc that makes people uncomfortable.

It could be that they are leaving because of perfectly reasonable changes that the manager has introduced, ie leaving because of the new manager but not actually the manager's fault. This often happens if the previous manager has let staff get away with blue murder and then a new manager tries to put a stop to it.

Etc etc

Not necessarily the manager but absolutely the organisation. I wish the people who had clot in my place realised that but they’d rather bury their heads in the sand.

Staff don't leave a bad job, they leave a bad manager.

It depends, the team in my organisation are pretty new, 4 new starts in 6 months. Their predecessors either moved within the organisation to promoted posts or to a partner organisation leading projects they were contributing to in their role. All have good relationships with the team and the team manager, it was simply to do with the timing of opportunities. I’ve been there 5 months and it’s a great organisation and the manager is really good.

This happened in my team at work. Five people resigned in the space of a few months. Others would have left if they could find a job with similar WFH benefits.

Definitely management problems - it had been a good service but went downhill over a few years, primarily due to poor managers.

That isn't necessarily true at all. I've left jobs with great managers in order to progress in my career. The best managers have proactively supported me to gain the skills and experience needed to be able to take that next step.

Hmm it depends. I would think there was something up though if a few people left at once. It's sort of happening in my work - I handed in my notice not long ago (just a few weeks left), my same level colleague is interviewing for another role, another one below me left just before Christmas. I think in our case, it's the heavy workload and work stress tbh along with low pay (secondary school.support staff).

Yes, I think you can actually be pleasantly (or otherwise) surprised by your manager's reaction when you let them know you're moving on and are really happy about the new opportunity. I've had quite a surprisingly negative reaction to handing in my notice at current job! Really did surprise me as I always thought highly of SLT in my school, but they've been a teeny bit shitty since I handed in my notice.

That's rubbish @WilhelminaBunter.

I always take the view that staff are not bonded to us for life! If they're ready to move on - for whatever reason - then I wish them well. My organisation benefits from having a lot of very long serving employees but we also benefit hugely from getting new people in from time to time. As long as people work hard to contribute while they're with us, their contribution is of value regardless of whether they're here for the duration or just passing through.

I don't know why some managers seem to take it as a sign of disloyalty when people want to leave. Sometimes that is the only way in which people will have the opportunity to progress to the next level.

Yes if not retiring.