Retention rates are often a primary concern for organizational leaders. After all, competition for top talent has become increasingly fierce as the labor market appears to keep shrinking, and focusing on keeping your best and brightest on board can reduce your need to hire.

However, if you find your top employees are often heading out the door, even when you offer competitive salaries, benefits, and perks, understanding what may be scaring them off is essential. Otherwise, you’ll keep experiencing the same losses until the problem is identified and remedied.

While you may not be able to get direct answers from your exiting employees on why they chose to leave, a recent survey of commonly searched terms highlights what workers fear the most, and provides indications as to what may drive a top performer to see out greener pastures. Here’s what you need to know.

Their Boss

Two popular searches included the questions, “How to impress your boss?” and “How to prove your boss is bullying you?” While these inquiries focus on two separate concepts, they do showcase how influential a manager can be in regards to how employees feel about their workplace.

If your workers don’t know what is expected of them, they certainly don’t know how to impress their boss. This shows failing to set clear expectations can be damaging.

The question about bullying should serve as a warning. This means not only do many employees feel bullied in the workplace but they also don’t know what to do to get the situation corrected, both of which spell trouble.

Feeling like you work for a good boss can make all of the difference, leading to higher retention rates and increased job satisfaction. If you are seeing top talent leave in droves, examine the management practices in your organization and see if there may be problems that should be addressed.

Engagement

While searching to see how many work days there are each year seems innocuous, it could actually be a signal that many employees aren’t engaged at work. After all, if heading to the workplace feels tedious or unfulfilling, finding out just how much of your life is dedicated to a job might lead top talent to seek out something better.

Plus, when there is a lack of engagement, productivity is guaranteed to fall. It can also harm the quality of any outputs, something that can damage both the employee’s and company’s reputation.

However, if that question isn’t a sign of disengagement, it could indicate that professionals are taking work-life balance more seriously. They could be using that information to estimate the value of their benefits package, particularly the amount of vacation, sick and other leave they receive. And, if you aren’t competitive in that arena, most top talent will figure that out.

While reviewing common search queries does mean inferring their potential meaning, it is important to understand they can help you understand why your top employees might not be sticking around. By digging into what may motivate workers to ask these questions, you can find actionable information, allowing you to improve your workplace as a means of increasing your rate of retention.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can retain your top employees, the team at CPS Recruitment can help. Contact us to speak with one of our knowledgeable staff members today and see how our hiring and retention expertise can benefit you.