By Daniel Bobinski
Olivia had been employed with the same company for over 10 years, with consistently excellent performance reviews. One day she heard about an opening at the company’s global headquarters. The job would require relocating to Europe, but it came with a substantial salary increase. Several of Olivia’s colleagues thought she’d excel in the position, but several advised against the move. They’d heard some negative reports about the person to whom Olivia would be reporting.
Still, drawn by the pay increase and the opportunity to live in Europe, Olivia pursued the opportunity. And she got the job. Unfortunately, a year later, Olivia was unemployed and looking for work.
What went wrong? After all, Olivia had stellar reviews and customers loved her work.
Turns out the problem was not Olivia. It was her boss.
When asked about the situation, Olivia said, “I never imagined that someone at such a high level in a company could be so unreasonable.” Her supervisor gave her only vague instructions, but then criticized the work she produced. To be clear, customers were always happy with Olivia’s work, but when those compliments came in, her supervisor always took the credit. He also openly discounted her input in staff meetings, plus he had a few “favorite” employees who received the choice assignments.
It didn’t take long for Olivia to become demoralized. After a year of being treated so poorly despite producing high-quality work, Olivia quit.
It’s actually not uncommon for senior managers to have poor people management skills. We’re talking about employees who’ve risen through the ranks in spite of their style, not because of it.
It’s here that we must address the need for emotional intelligence (EQ). Daniel Goleman, a pioneer in EQ research, states that EQ accounts for nearly 90% of what distinguishes outstanding leaders from average ones. Additionally, a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that leaders with high EQ were more likely to foster positive work environments and have more engaged employees.
Obviously, Olivia’s supervisor lacked these skills, and his poor skill set cost his company a lot of money.
The most obvious is the direct cost of replacement. The Society for Human Resource Development tells us that actual hard costs for replacing an employee is just under $5,000. However, when factoring in all associated costs, the total spent on replacing someone can be up to twice their annual salary.
Research shows that 60% of employees quit because of poor relationships with their supervisors. With that in mind, one must ask, “Why pay the huge expense of finding and training new employees when it’s much cheaper to equip supervisors with good people skills?”
Substantial evidence exists suggesting that supervisors and managers who improve their emotional intelligence and interpersonal relationship skills can significantly reduce employee turnover. This is because such people are more likely to create work environments in which employees feel valued and understood. That doesn’t mean employees will stop leaving entirely, but it’s a fair bet that if Olivia’s boss had those skills, she’d still be adding profit to her company as an engaged and productive employee.
