What's the one thing I can do to stop my employees leaving?
If you’re running a UK business and good people keep leaving, you’ve probably had this conversation with yourself already.
You look at salaries.
You wonder if the market’s gone mad.
You tell yourself people are just less loyal than they used to be.
And at some point you think, surely this is just what happens when you grow.
I was a guest on a podcast recently and was asked what one thing business owners could fix to stop people leaving, my answer was simple: Communication.
Not salary increases, benefits, culture initiatives, team-building sessions or leadership "away days".
Just clear, honest and human communication.
“People leave for more money” is a story that sounds comforting, but is preventing you from seeing the real issue
Most business owners assume people leave because of money and this feels logical because when someone resigns, they tell you they're leaving for more money. Plus you see other businesses offering more, so you assume that’s the reason.
But that’s not how it actually plays out. because people don't typically resign out of the blue; there's usually a thought process behind it before they send that email:
They start thinking "I’m not really enjoying this anymore". Not "I need more money".
Then it snowballs:
My manager avoids me.
I never get 1-1 time.
I don’t know if I’m doing a good job.
I’m unclear on my role.
I can’t see how I develop here.
I don’t know what the future looks like for me in this business.
Only after all of that do they start looking elsewhere and notice the pay.
When they leave, money becomes the explanation because it’s simple and socially acceptable.
Saying “I felt ignored and unclear for months” or "I was sold a dream job and the reality is bullshit" is much harder.
This is why counter-offers rarely work; if you don’t fix what made that person think about leaving in the first place, then you’re just paying them more to put up with the same frustrations for a bit longer.
I’ve seen businesses spend thousands on pay rises and counter-offers, and still lose the person three months later. Then they’re shocked.
They shouldn’t be.
They made an assumption and implemented a quick-fix.
They addressed the final straw, rather than looking at all the stuff that lead to that build-up.
The real cost of avoiding difficult conversations with your team
There's one moment from that podcast conversation that sums this up perfectly.
The host wanted to talk to his manager about a pay rise but instead of having the conversation, the manager avoided coming into the office for three weeks!!
Years later, he couldn’t remember whether he got the pay rise, all he could remember was being avoided.
Leaders avoid conversations because they don’t want to say the wrong thing, upset someone or admit they don’t have a perfect answer. But that avoidance is far more damaging than an honest, messy conversation ever will be.
People can cope with “We can’t afford that right now” or “I don’t know yet”. They appreciate honesty, even if the answer isn't what they want to hear. What they struggle with is silence, because that tells them they don’t matter enough to be dealt with properly. Silence also makes people fill in the gaps themselves and they rarely assume the best.
Communication is the key most UK founders ignore…
In growing UK businesses, people problems don’t often present as “a communication issue”. They show up as:
someone leaving after a few months “out of the blue”
high performers going quiet and doing the bare minimum
founders feeling like they have to be involved in everything because nothing gets done without them
managers blaming “attitude” when the real issue is confusion
customers noticing inconsistency and feeling unsettled because roles keep changing hands
By the time someone resigns, the damage has usually been done months earlier and this is the bit most business owners and founders miss: people don’t leave suddenly, they get tired of living in the ambiguity and chaos.
The ambiguity and chaos that's often caused by things not being said clearly enough, early enough, or at all.
What better communication actually looks like in a growing UK business
This is where advice usually gets vague, so let’s keep it simple and specific...
1. Be clear about the job before someone accepts it
I’ve seen this too many times to count: many founders hire in a rush, usually out of desperation. They know they need help, but haven’t fully worked out what they actually need.
So they pull together a generic job description which makes the role sound broad and exciting. The candidate thinks it's full of potential. At the interview, the hiring manager needs a bum on a seat, so talks up the job some more to make sure the candidate definitely accepts.
Three months later though the employee realises that the actual job is nothing like what they were told and the hiring manager is left wondering why things aren't going so well.
If you want people to stay, you need to be able to explain, in plain English:
why this role exists right now
what problem it’s meant to solve
what the challenges are
what behaviours and skills are needed to be successful
what “doing well” looks like in the first few months and years
what they’re trusted to decide and do without needing to check with you (where are their decision-making boundaries)
When this isn’t clear, people feel like they’re constantly getting it wrong. That drains motivation fast.
2. Don’t only talk when something’s gone wrong
In a lot of businesses, communication only happens when there’s a problem; 1-1s get cancelled when things are busy, feedback becomes corrective instead of supportive.
From the employee’s point of view, it feels like they only hear from you when they've f*cked up.
Regular conversations catch issues while they’re still small and allow for better course-correction. They also stop people making up stories in their head about what you’re thinking.
3. Stop assuming expectations are obvious
This one causes more damage than most founders realise because they think that what matters is crystal clear to everyone involved.
It usually isn't and as a result, your team are often asking themselves:
Am I doing enough?
Am I focusing on the right things?
Am I about to get pulled up for something no one mentioned?
When people don’t know what “good” looks like, they either overwork to cover themselves or feel deflated because they're trying to hit a moving target. This is why watching who looks busy tells you nothing useful.
4. Say the uncomfortable thing sooner
You don’t need perfect answers but you do need honesty if:
the business can’t afford something.
expectations have changed.
someone’s performance isn’t where it needs to be.
Silence doesn’t protect anyone, least of all you because it just leaves the issue to fester into something that a simple conversation would have solved.
5. Make communication two-way, not just listen-only
Many business owners tell their team that their "door is always open", until someone raises an issue and it falls into the void.
After a while of nothing changing and feeling unheard, people stop bothering. They don’t kick off anymore or seem as passionate as they once were, because they see there's no point in doing so, so they start to look elsewhere.
Two-way communication means:
listening without getting defensive or just to reply
doing something where you can act
explaining why not when you can’t
That loop is what builds trust and without it, people mentally check out long before they resign.
Why fixing communication changes the shape of your business
It takes people a while to think with their feet and leave; what actually happens first is quieter and more expensive.
Decisions slow down because people aren’t sure what they’re allowed to decide without you.
Work gets redone because expectations were assumed, not said out loud.
Small issues turn into big ones because no one wants to be “that person” who complains.
So everything starts flowing back to you and you become the bottleneck for approvals, reassurance, conflict, clarity.
This is what I regularly see happening when founders say things to me like:
“I feel like I have to be involved in everything”
“Nothing seems to move unless I push it”
“I can’t take a break without something going wrong”
None of this happens because your team is incapable and it's not a motivation problem either.
When people don’t know what good looks like, what matters most, or how decisions get made, they feel less confident and default to playing safe. This looks like checking, guessing, worrying, waiting, or doing the bare minimum required to avoid being wrong.
Over time, that creates a vicious cycle.
You step in more because things aren’t moving.
They step back more because you’re always stepping in.
You get frustrated that you’re carrying everything.
They get frustrated that they’re not trusted or developed.
And this is where resignations start to increase.
Fixing communication breaks that cycle because when expectations are clear, decisions are explicit and conversations happen early, people stop guessing. They take ownership because they know where the lines are and you step back because you finally can.
A simple exercise to start fixing this now
Set aside 45 minutes and pick one role that’s had high churn or challenges. Write down, honestly:
why this role exists,
what “doing well” looks like right now,
what decisions they should own without you.
Then ask one person:
“What feels unclear or frustrating for you at the moment?”
When they share with you what they're seeing and feeling, listen. Don’t explain or defend; approach the discussion with curiosity and ask questions to build your understanding of the picture they're seeing.
If you're able to solve some of the challenges they're facing, go ahead and do that, and let them know what action you've taken based on their feedback. If you're unable to address some of the issues they've raised, tell them that too because, even when the answer isn’t perfect, clarity will beat silence every time.
Want the full conversation?
I go much deeper into this, including pay myths, leadership avoidance and why founders unintentionally become the bottleneck, in this podcast conversation.
You can watch or listen here.
If this stuff felt uncomfortably familiar then get in touch; we can have a chat about what you're seeing, how you can stop your revolving door and prevent it from happening again!
