Job Mismatch Called Most Common Reason Employees Give Notice

Employees quit for all kinds of reasons, but usually a worker leaves because the job just wasn’t right.

Sometimes, though, it’s to raise worms, or something equally offbeat, according to a recent survey of more than 180 corporate executives conducted by Caliper, a human resources consulting firm based in Princeton, N.J.

The executives reported that only 26% of employees said in exit interviews that they were leaving for a job that paid more money. The most common explanation, cited by 40% of quitting employees, was some sort of job mismatch--that the work was not challenging enough, was too stressful, did not have advancement potential or did not allow them to make decisions.

Or maybe they just didn’t like the job, said Harold Weinstein, a psychologist and partner in Caliper, which also is known for its employee personality tests.

The problem of finding the right person for the job is worsened by the tight labor market, which creates “an enormous amount of pressure to fill the seat,” Weinstein said.

“But employers become quickly disillusioned once they get the person in the seat,” he said. “When people are not well-matched to the job, productivity is affected, work performance is affected and turnover is affected.”

Nearly 18% of employees head for the exits for personal or family reasons and 11% because of a conflict with a manager or a co-worker, the survey found.

Then there are the offbeat justifications, such as:

* To start a worm farm.

* Because a vision told them to resign.

* Because the building temperature was too cold.

* To take care of a sick pet bird.

* Because there was “a demon residing in our computer network.”

Perhaps strangest of all was a lack of explanation by a worker who, according to one executive, “said he was going to the restroom and just never returned.”