Employees Don’t Always Leave Because of Their Bosses or Compensation

Someone I know has been working long hours because of the high demand for their skill set. That’s a good thing. Their clients appreciate them immensely, their peers offer high praise, and the compensation is fair—plus, the incentives have no limits. All good, right?

But.

When it takes three hours to book flights, when they have to take a connection just to save $100—those become little blisters. Tiny annoyances that seem insignificant but, over time, start rubbing the wrong way. Even when their boss’s boss’s boss calls to say how much they’re valued, the blister still grows. Because when you’re already working 65-70 hours a week, spending another three hours just to book travel isn’t a minor inconvenience—it’s lost time, lost focus, and ultimately, lost productivity.

And the worst part? The company is so big that even the top leadership can’t easily fix these kinds of employee experience issues that slowly wear down star performers.

And when employees are working at a sprinter’s pace for marathon distances, they can’t afford to deal with a blister on their toe.

The Real Reason People Leave

We’ve all heard the saying, “People don’t leave jobs, they leave bad bosses.” But that’s only part of the story. Employees—especially top performers—often leave because of the daily friction points that make work harder than it needs to be. It’s not the big things. It’s the small, solvable frustrations that pile up until they become unbearable.

And when that top performer finally walks out the door, it’s not just an HR problem—it’s a revenue problem.

For CHROs who want to impact top-line growth, this is where the focus should be. When a high performer leaves, so does the revenue they generate. The deals they were closing, the client relationships they nurtured, the deep institutional knowledge they carried—it all walks out the door with them.

The Role of the CHRO

Even though employee experience is every leader’s responsibility, CHROs and their HR teams have a unique opportunity. When we put on our uX (user experience) hat and think like designers, we can influence eX (employee experience) in a way that removes these daily friction points.

Retention isn’t just about keeping people happy—it’s about protecting the business. The best talent doesn’t leave because of one big thing. They leave because of the blisters—the inefficiencies, the little frustrations, the unnecessary hurdles that pile up until they take that first call from a headhunter.

As a CHRO, are you thinking about these “blisters” inside your organization? Are there small but fixable friction points that could push your top talent (and their revenue) out the door?

This is the type of challenge we tackle inside our CHRO Mastermind Group—a peer community for sitting CHROs (500+ employee companies) who are continuous learners, committed to evolving their approach, and determined to drive real business impact.

Be well,

Cindy Lu 

P.S. If you are a sitting Chief HR or People Officer at a co. with over 500 employees, apply to learn more about CHRO Mastermind Groups https://www.chropartners.com/