The boss factor

There is an adage amongst corporate types that employees join companies but leave bosses. This is the sort of wisdom that does nothing to help managers sleep at night but a new report might add a touch of salve to those wearied managerial brows.

In the new report, researchers interviewed employees who had left a range of companies and have confirmed what other research has shown which is that there is no relationship between having a good relationship with your boss and how likely you are to leave your job. However, they did find something interesting.

They found that the quality of a boss-employee relationship is directly related to salary and responsibility in the employee’s next job. So the better the relationship with the boss, the better the employee does on the next job. This makes sense because the better the boss, the more they invest in their workers. But is it good for the boss and the company? The answer is yes.

This is because the other thing the researchers found out was that, when there is a good boss-to-employee relationship, when the employee leaves they feel better about the organisation they are leaving. We already know that employees leave regardless of the nature of their boss but they feel better about the organisation they are leaving when they had a good boss.

This means that rather than just an “ex-employee” the person who has left becomes an “alumnus” of the corporation and can become a strategic asset providing valuable and legal information. Companies are so convinced of the value of the alumni idea that they have even created social networks to allow ex-employees to keep in touch.

If the relationship with a boss has been good, ex-employees become valuable contacts. There is a certain karma in all of this because it means a valued employee will value the company even when they leave.