Why do people resign?

Let’s look at this question from the point of view of the one who resigns, then from that of the one who is resigned from. 
We read of times when people were employed at a company for life and their children too would join the same company, at times the grand children would also join in. In the textbooks it was dubbed as the Japanese way of employment.  Then we would be told of the American way of employment, where people would switch companies within a few years and would have worked in a dozen of companies by the time they retire.   
In Nepal the length a person stays in a particular company, varies.  In some companies it is the Japanese way and in others it is the American way.  But what is the Nepali way of employment? 


Probably the most volatile employees in the world
Few would disagree that Nepali’s employees resign the most easily.  Investors having interest in many countries talk like this of Nepal, “It is so difficult to run factories in Nepal as compared to places like Bangladesh.  There they value the job so much that they will almost never complain and make little demands.  Here the people put job in second priority and their community first.  It is not just exceptions, it is a rule.  So we can’t make them over work, or even work fairly without having a mass resignation.”
To some extent the government sector is not so plagued by resignation as is the private sector.  Further we would like to classify the private sector into two: branded companies and non-branded companies.  The volatility of employees is most pronounced in the latter category. 

Some typical reasons given by employees who resign on why they resign


What they tell to the company at exit interviews:

1. I got a better opportunity

2. I have problems at home I need to cater

3. I need to go for further studies

4. I am chronically ill

5. My spouse wants me to quit

What the same people tell their friends on why they quit are:

1. I don’t see any future for me here

2. I fear this company will collapse soon so it is better to jump ship before it is too late

3. They don’t pay on time

4. My colleague got a raise but I didn’t and we joined in the same time.  It is not fair. This company is biased.

5. Work is too hard for me

 
What they don’t tell anybody:

1. I scared to get caught

2. I am confused

3. I am not able to perform

4. I am sick of being confronted by my boss for the right reasons and the wrong reasons

5. I don’t fit in this company or industry

What they will tell surveys:

1. I hated my boss

2. There was no recognition

3. There was no opportunities of learn

4. The facilities such as sitting space, toilets, canteen were bad

5. It was a bad place to work culture wise

What they will refuse to tell but will not be able to disagree:

1. My parents or spouse or family property will support me financially until I find another job so I quit at the drop of the hat

2. I have no loyalty to anyone

3. I don’t like to work under others

4. I joined this company just to check out my potential, now I know it, so I move on

5. This job was a stepping stone for me to get bargaining power in the actual job I sought

So what is the truth?
In the movie “The Matrix”, Morpheus said, “The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” So even us who have been handed over more than a century of resignation letters, the truth of why that particular person resigned, is still evasive.  Probably, that person doesn’t know himself why he really quit.  What about you, what is the real reason you resigned from your last job?

Authors: Mohan Ojha & Manohar Man Shrestha