Leadership is the Key
I’ve often wondered whether employees leave a job because of the way they are treated. After all, it is a matter of ethics in the way superiors interact with their employees. While factors such as good pay, generous vacation time, and other perks are important, it seems as though employees quit jobs not because of them but because of the way they are treated by their bosses.
Thomas Griffin writes about leadership skills in an interesting and informative way. Griffin points to a study published in DDI’s Frontline Leader Project that addresses the emotions and relationships of frontline managers. The survey collected data from more than 1,000 managers, senior leaders, and individual contributors. The published findings reveal the anxieties, frustrations, and rewarding moments experienced by frontline managers, as well as the reflections of their senior leaders and direct reports.
Leadership Skills
Key findings in the research include:
- 57 percent of employees have left a job because of their manager. Furthermore, 14 percent have left multiple jobs because of their managers. An additional 32 percent have seriously considered leaving because of their manager.
- Bad leaders create unhealthy work environments rife with ineffective communication, lack of recognition, micromanagement and poor productivity.
- A significant change in leadership strategy and execution is necessary to retain key employees.
Why People Leave Bad Leaders
Griffin identifies five dangerous practices and habits of bad leaders that create toxic workplace cultures.
- Refusing to Lead by Example
- Not Offering Support and Recognition
- Communicating Ineffectively
- Micromanaging and Withholding Control
- Fostering an Unhealthy Work Environment
Each of these activities creates workplace cultures that can lead the best of employees to quit, leaving only those who don’t care about getting results for the organization.
8 Principles to Become a Better Leader
Griffin discusses “8 Principles to Help You Become a Better Leader.”
- Lead by Example
- Listen to Understand, Not Respond
- Creating a Clear Strategy Centered Around Vision, Mission and Values
- Be Proactive, Not Reactive
- Communicating More Effectively
- Audit Existing Systems, Processes and Practices
- Invest in Your Employees
- Commitment to the Plan
These are right on point but could be strengthened by adding something about reporting wrongdoing. For example, if an employee believes the organization has committed fraud or other wrongdoing, it should provide an outlet to report it without fear of retribution. This has become increasingly important in an environment where organizations do not ‘walk the talk’ of ethics. A positive step is having a C-Suite position for the VP Ethics or Ethics Compliance Officer.
Recently, I blogged about “Quiet Quitting.” If employees become resentful of the way a manager treats them or their work conditions, they may ‘check out,’ that is, underperform on the job. The reason is they no longer are getting the return of their investment in the job, perhaps because of the way they are treated.
Quiet Quitting
Employers need to be sensitive to the activities and relationships within the organization that might motivate quiet quitting. According to a study by Gallup, quiet quitters make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce. Many quiet quitters fit the definition of being “not engaged” at work — people who do the minimum required and are psychologically detached from their job. Gallup found a decline in engagement and employee satisfaction among remote Gen Z and younger millennials – those below age 35. This is important because they will be the primary workplace group going forward and need to align themselves with organizational values to promote ethical behavior within the organization.
According to research by LLC, when quiet quitters decide to do the bare minimum in their roles, they’re often pushing some of their responsibilities off on others, whether they realize it or not. Naturally, that isn’t going to go over well with some of the quiet quitter’s colleagues. In the LLC report, 62% of employees surveyed said they are annoyed by the trend of quiet quitting, with 57% stating that they had to take on extra work because a colleague had quietly quit.
The following signs of quiet quitting illustrate why this trend could be dangerous for employers. Taken to an extreme, it could bring into question one’s work/life balance and wellness, with a negative effect on workplace culture.
- Disengagement on a chronic basis.
- Performance only to the minimum set of performance standards.
- Isolation from other members of the team.
- Withdrawal from any non-necessary conversations, activities or tasks.
To fend off quiet quitting, employers should create a culture that encourages employees to stay with the organization—such as loyalty, responsibility by top management, respect by management for employees, valuing others’ contributions in the workplace, and creating a workplace culture that promotes alignment with organizational values, strategies, and objectives.
When I teach ethics to college students, I like to end each session with famous quotes. I have found it helps them to recall the material discussed in class. Here are a few of my favorites.
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things” (Peter Drucker, Management and leadership guru).
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” (John Maxwell, author, who wrote: The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader.
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”(Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist and political philosopher).
Posted by Dr. Steven Mintz, aka Ethics Sage, on August 26, 2025. Learn more about his activities at: https://www.stevenmintzethics.com/ and signing up for the newsletter.