By Jonathan H. Westover, PhD
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Abstract: While companies spend significantly on hiring top talent, retaining high performers remains a challenge even in strong workplace cultures. This article explores common reasons talented employees leave seemingly positive company cultures and provides recommendations for improvement. It discusses how misalignment of organizational and individual values and priorities can create cognitive dissonance over time. Lack of growth opportunities and autonomy are also cited as major factors, with high performers needing new challenges and independence. Issues like opaque decision-making, inconsistent policies, and lack of work-life balance further undermine engagement. The article analyzes real examples where misalignment of priorities, lack of development pathways, micromanagement, unfair processes, and inflexible work policies drove away satisfied employees. It concludes that ongoing assessment of dissatisfaction drivers is needed to refine cultures and meet the evolving needs of all employees, including top performers, for long-term retention success.
Human resource departments across industries spend vast amounts of time, energy, and money every year recruiting top talent. But even the most carefully curated workplace cultures with dedicated employee experience teams still struggle to retain some of their very best people. While a "great culture" alone is rarely enough to motivate an employee to stay long-term, understanding why dissatisfied high performers leave seemingly strong organizations can help leadership shore up engagement and make improvements where needed.
Today we will explore some of the key reasons research shows top talent exits even highly regarded company cultures, along with practical applications and examples organizations can implement to start addressing underlying issues.
Misalignment of Values and Priorities
A critical factor in employee satisfaction and retention is the alignment between an individual's core values and priorities versus those demonstrated by organizational leadership. According to a 2017 Gallup study, only about one-third of employees strongly agree that the mission or purposes of their organization makes them feel their jobs are important. When an organization's professed values and day-to-day priorities are misaligned, it can create cognitive dissonance and disengagement for even the most loyal team members over time (Gallup, 2017).
For example, a tech startup that marketed itself as a mission-driven business focusing on social good found many of its engineers left after a few years due to leadership's hyper focus on rapid growth and fundraising versus measurable impact. Employees joined because they believed in making a difference but found impact wasn't actually a top concern in decision making. Addressing this type of values misalignment requires leadership to walk the walk, not just talk, through concrete behaviors, decision criteria, and regular communication reinforcing the importance of core organizational priorities (Gallup, 2017).
Lack of Growth and Development Opportunities
Most high performers join an organization because they want to continuously learn and take on new challenges. However, stagnant roles without opportunity to develop new skills or take on additional responsibility are a leading cause of voluntary turnover according to Bersin (2014). Even talented individuals in seemingly "great cultures" will eventually outgrow their positions if not given opportunities to learn and contribute in new ways.
For instance, a renowned hospital found many of its top nurses left within 3-5 years despite strong culture and compensation. Upon further review, leadership discovered the greatest frustration among departing nurses was their perceived inability to advance beyond direct patient care roles into more specialized clinical or administrative opportunities. The hospital was able to start addressing turnover by creating formal career pathways, rotations, and project-based assignments to keep challenging high performers and allow them to grow into new responsibilities over time (Bersin, 2014).
Lack of Autonomy and Ownership
micromanagement and lack of autonomy are draining for any employee. But for self-motivated high performers, overly tight controls without room for independent work or decision making can be especially demoralizing over the long run. One study found that only 30% of employees felt empowered to do their work, a contributor to increased stress and burnout (Gallup, 2017). Even high potential individuals excelling within prescriptive cultures will likely seek roles elsewhere that allow for more independence and latitude to use their skills.
For instance, a prestigious professional services firm lost many senior consultants who complained of diminishing autonomy and ownership as the focus shifted to project metrics over client relationships. By standardizing work and centralizing decision making, leadership demotivated top talent used to operating with discretion and flexibility while servicing long-term accounts. Granting high performers more control over client engagements and budgets helped address feelings of micromanagement and started stemming voluntary departures (Gallup, 2017).
Lack of Transparency and Fairness
Another common reason cited for leaving is a lack of transparency in organizational operations and perceived unfairness in reward and criticism. Decision making that seems opaque or arbitrary, inconsistent application of policies, and favoritism can damage even the strongest of workplace cultures over the long run according to Bersin (2018). High performers used to direct, merits-based feedback may struggle to stay engaged if they feel the rules are not equally applied or processes lack openness.
For instance, an elite graduate program lost a high number of tenure track professors within their first five years despite strong compensation. An assessment found dissatisfaction stemmed from a lack of transparency in tenure review criteria, which some saw as subjective. Improving communication around expectations and implementing structured, consistent evaluations for tenure helped address feelings of unfair treatment. Double blind peer reviews also increased perceptions of impartiality and process integrity (Bersin, 2018).
Failure to Balance Work and Personal Life
In today’s always-on workplace environment enabled by technology, maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal obligations has become increasingly difficult – and a major priority for talent. While passion for the work can drive high performance initially, sustained commitment requires feeling supported not just professionally but also personally according to Bersin (2014). Inflexible policies around things like remote work, time off, or family leave can undermine even the most positive cultures over the long haul for talented individuals with demanding outside responsibilities.
For example, a big tech company saw attrition spike among high performing mothers who felt pressured to choose between advancing their careers versus spending quality time with family. Introducing more generous family leave, remote working allowances, and results-oriented versus presenteeism-focused management helped create a better work-life balance. This addressed a key cause of turnover among a core demographic of talented employees (Bersin, 2014).
Conclusion
While every organization strives to foster an engaging culture, even the most well-regarded still lose some top performers. By understanding why dissatisfaction can persist below surface indicators of culture strength, leadership is better equipped to make strategic improvements retaining and motivating talent. Addressing misalignment of core priorities, lack of development opportunities, micromanagement concerns, process unfairness, and work-life balance issues requires an ongoing effort but can start resolving unhappiness driving away high performers. Continuous assessment and refinement enables organizations to strengthen cultures and meet the evolving needs of all individuals, even rockstar talent, for long term retention success.
References
Bersin, J. (2014, September 15). Why employees really quit their jobs: New research finds the top reasons why employees leave. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2014/09/15/why-employees-really-quit-their-jobs-new-research-finds-the-top-reasons-why-employees-leave/?sh=4f3dbb6565a7
Bersin, J. (2018, October 11). The retention management pyramid: Engaging and retaining employees at every level. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2018/10/11/the-retention-management-pyramid-engaging-and-retaining-employees-at-every-level/?sh=4311d48b4ecf
Gallup. (2017, March 28). State of the American workplace. Gallup. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238085/state-american-workplace-report-2017.aspx
Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Chair/Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.
Suggested Citation: Westover, J. H. (2024). Uncovering the Paradox: Exploring the Departure of Exceptional Employees from Supposedly 'Exceptional Cultures'. Human Capital Leadership Review, 13(3). doi.org/10.70175/hclreview.2020.13.3.3
