While it is true that managers can drive job defection, this is not a universal truth.

Employees will still leave jobs even when they like and respect their manager.   This occurs when the fit between their talents, interests and skills isn’t good enough to give them quality of life on the job.  How many of your people are struggling in a job where they spend Sunday night dreading going to work on Monday?  This is a primary symptom of  a poor job fit.

All jobs have a unique profile of distinct skills, attitudes and behaviors that are required for best performance, just as people have their own unique profile, too. When a person is matched to a job that requires the combination of behaviors, skills and attitudes that come naturally to them, achieving superior performance isn’t a struggle, it’s a challenge they can win.

Conversely, when we have to extend extraordinary amounts of energy on duties we are indifferent to that don’t match our skills, we are easily worn down and performance suffers.

What’s an employer to do?

There are valid assessment processes for both jobs and the people who do them.  In a job mismatch situation, you can have a brilliant, talented person who is simply poor match for the job.  Assessing both the job and the people is an underutilized and valuable solution to the misuse and potential loss of talent.