Not All Employee Turnover is “Bad Turnover”

As the needs of your business change, so too should the composition of your team.

Jessica Donahue, PHR
6 min readFeb 14, 2022
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels

We’ve all heard the adage, “people don’t leave jobs or companies; they leave bosses.” And, up until the past year or two, I’ve generally subscribed to this argument. According to Gallup, the manager alone accounts for 70% of the variance in employee engagement globally.

As such, who you work for will likely have a far more significant impact on your experience working for that company — and whether you choose to stay or go — than any other factor will.

But, as businesses of all sizes across the US grapple with the Great Resignation, the Great Discontent, or the Great ‘whatever we’re calling it today,’ this adage might be putting more pressure on today’s team leaders than is deserved.

So, especially now, it’s worth reminding leaders that not all turnover is “bad turnover.”

The CEO of a startup I recently spoke with shared with me that she hopes everyone employed by the company today will remain with the company until “the end,” which, in startup speak, means either an IPO or some other exit.

As an HR Consultant to startups like hers, I had to break the news that if everyone employed by the company today is…

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Jessica Donahue, PHR
Jessica Donahue, PHR

Written by Jessica Donahue, PHR

Fractional HR & People Ops for Startups & Early Stage Companies

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