Feeling valued goes a long way!
I had a conversation with a candidate this week that has stayed with me.
She has been with the same company for almost a decade.
When I spoke to one of her references, the feedback was glowing.
They described her as meticulous, hard-working, reliable and always friendly.
The kind of person every team hopes to have.
Yet despite all of that, she was ready to leave.
Not because she’d stopped caring about her work.
Not because she’d lost her passion for what she does.
She simply no longer felt valued.
It made me realise how easy it is to lose great people, not because they aren’t capable, but because of the environment they’re working in.
As leaders, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to attract talented people.
But retaining them often comes down to something much simpler: the culture we create, the respect we show, and whether people feel seen and appreciated.
Skills can be developed.
Experience grows over time.
But when someone who has spent years contributing to a business no longer feels valued, it’s incredibly difficult to rebuild that trust.
It was a reminder to me that retention isn’t only about salary or benefits.
Sometimes it’s about the way people are spoken to, the recognition they receive, and the environment they walk into every morning.
Great people don’t just leave jobs.
Sometimes they leave cultures.
