---
title: "How Distributors Should Handle Employee Job-Hopping"
description: "Job-hopping has been around for years, but strictly speaking, it should be called 'climbing' rather than 'jumping,' as not all moves are upward. While job changes can be a means of career development, frequent hopping is inadvisable at certain career stages. This article focuses on the boss's role in employee turnover, highlighting common mistakes and offering advice on retention."
author: "马斐"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2015-09-30"
language: "en"
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---

# How Distributors Should Handle Employee Job-Hopping

> Job-hopping has been around for years, but strictly speaking, it should be called 'climbing' rather than 'jumping,' as not all moves are upward. While job changes can be a means of career development, frequent hopping is inadvisable at certain career stages. This article focuses on the boss's role in employee turnover, highlighting common mistakes and offering advice on retention.

The term "job-hopping" has been around for many years. Actually, strictly speaking, it should be called "climbing" rather than "jumping," because not all jumps are upward; some people end up lower than before. Job-hopping is something every professional experiences. Some people, after changing jobs, enter better companies, earn higher salaries, and achieve career advancement. So, it can be said that job-hopping is a means of career development. However, for people at different stages of their careers, frequent job-hopping is not advisable.

Here, we focus on the boss's problems, rather than considering the employees' movements.

**Where Do Distributor Bosses Go Wrong?**

"Promote talents based on merit" and "know people and use them well"—unfortunately, many bosses do not do this. If they cannot calm down and think deeply about the reasons behind talent drain, including the faults of the company and its leaders, these companies will still struggle to retain people.

**1. Money Scatters People, Money Gathers People**

This is an ancient and simple truth. But in reality, there are many companies like this: when profits are good, they don't increase bonuses or wages; when funds are tight, they delay payments or pay only 30% or 50%. To stimulate performance, they promise bonuses and commissions for meeting targets, but at year-end, they find various ways to deduct. When they urgently need someone's talent, they talk about dry shares and dividends, but once the goal is achieved, they may even kick the person out without paying a cent.

Any promise without economic foundation or that cannot be fulfilled is nonsense. These behaviors, treating talents like "indentured laborers" from the old society, how can they make employees feel that effort and reward are symmetrical, or feel integrity? For those with excellent skills, some even risk not getting their due commissions and bonuses, just to escape these companies quickly.

**2. Lack of Trust Makes Employees Feel Disrespected and Unaccomplished**

Who doesn't want respect and a sense of achievement? But in many companies, the boss just preached "never doubt the one you use; never use the one you doubt" in his office, and then immediately arranges a confidant to be an "eyewitness" beside someone. He just praised a department manager for doing well, and then, in front of that manager, bypasses him to give orders to his subordinates. How can such behavior make employees work comfortably?

**3. Severe Nepotism in Family Businesses Makes "Outsider" Employees Feel Constrained**

Many distributor bosses in sales have strong family business backgrounds. Among them, relatives and friends either hold key positions, interfere across departments, or flaunt their authority in important roles, feeling superior. Unfortunately, these bosses often find it hard to find good solutions to the drawbacks of family businesses.

With countless eyes watching, constant tattling, and people crossing borders to seize authority, can employees without any family ties fully unleash their talents? If they can't stretch their legs, they will look for another branch.

**4. High Pressure and Harsh Words Hurt Employees' Hearts**

Distributors generally face high survival and development pressure. Facing these pressures, some bosses often cannot control their emotions, scolding or even insulting employees unpredictably, sometimes acting like a tyrant.

As an employee, whether you do your job well or poorly, whether you do more or less, when you return to the company, the boss always finds fault, saying this is not good, that is not good. Suffering outside and at home, who would want to stay in such a company?

**5. Bosses Who Play Politics Drive Employees Away**

I once had a distributor boss who, from time to time, would say to the sales department manager Xiao Zhang, "The planning department manager Xiao Li told me you did this poorly and that poorly." Another day, he would say to Xiao Li, "Xiao Zhang told me you are not good here and there." In fact, those words were made up by the boss himself; Xiao Zhang and Xiao Li never said such things.

Another day, he said to Xiao Ma, a subordinate of the sales department manager Chen, "The company plans to split the market in two; Manager Chen will handle one part, and you will handle the other. Work hard." With just one sentence, he turned Xiao Ma into a thorn in Chen's side, making the originally good-performing Xiao Chen nearly neurotic.

It's thankless and tiring! Better to change jobs.

**6. Abnormal Corporate Culture**

In my view, every company has its own corporate culture, but many cultures are "sick." These "illnesses" make employees unbearable and leave.

For example, requiring employees to "treat the company as home" and devote themselves, but never giving them the warmth of home or fulfilling family-like responsibilities. The boss is stubborn, doing everything according to his own will, treating a group of capable employees like water buffaloes that only plow the fields. Or the boss has a serious imperial mindset, treating all employees as subjects to be humiliated and killed.

**7. No Future Planning for Employees**

Sales is a great place for training people because in such companies, we often use employees as versatile talents, and compared to large enterprises and foreign companies, employees get exposed to more things. For employees with insight, ability, and willingness to work hard, they often grow significantly in a short time.

But when employees grow, the positions of department manager or deputy general manager are still occupied by founding members or family members. The stage for them to showcase their talents remains unchanged. In such cases, they have no choice but to "fly high" and seek a higher, broader platform that can better realize their career goals.

**Retention is an Art**

"It's going to rain, and mother wants to marry"—but that applies to characters like Lin Biao. Actually, for distributors, many talents can be retained with a little change and continue to serve us.

Here, I mainly offer a few suggestions.

**1. Keep Promises, Put Interests Behind**

To achieve this, first, treat employees as partners in your business, not as laborers you can drive at will, nor as servants you can summon and dismiss. Second, say what you mean and do what you say; if you can't do it, explain. If you can't even explain, it's better to do less and say less. Make "cakes" through actions, not through words.

On the other hand, if employees can often feel that "I would rather go hungry myself than let my brothers go hungry," who wouldn't want to follow such a down-to-earth and honest boss to conquer the world?

**2. Maintain Dignity, Share Achievements**

Buddha fights for a stick of incense, and people live for a breath. Even the lowest-level employee hopes to have achievements at work and dignity in front of others. How much more so for talents with professional expertise in technology, marketing, or management?

At the same time, we must understand that we set up such a big operation and hired so many people not to satisfy our "emperor" complex, but to make money and realize dreams. The most direct way to treat the group that helps us make money and realize dreams is to respect their professional expertise, their suggestions, and their decisions within their scope, and not to be stingy with praise and recognition.

Of course, this may require us to learn to control our emotions and restrain our hands and feet from bypassing management. Don't give someone a platform and then pull the rug out from under them; don't give someone power and then exercise it over their heads. Remember: pulling the rug out from under talent is pulling it out from under yourself! The greater the power, the greater the responsibility.

**3. Use Emotion to Stabilize Hearts, Compensation to Retain Bodies, and Career to Keep People**

In fact, compared to other companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more likely to have a good relationship where bosses and employees get along well. This creates a foundation for building emotional bonds with some talents.

Of course, talking only about emotions without money is futile. Economic, material, and spiritual rewards should be given promptly according to the principle of rewarding according to merit and as agreed. You can't let talents talk about emotions and ideals with you while going hungry or eating poorly.

For employees with ambitions and clear career plans, we should not keep them in a small, unchanging position when they have the ability to showcase their talents on a bigger stage. We must know how to make room for them. Of course, for many SMEs, this may be difficult due to the involvement of founding members, shareholders, family members, and other relationships.

In such cases, we can spin off a business for a talent to manage; we can set up another venture as an investor or shareholder to let a talent use their expertise. Of course, we can also appropriately dilute our shares to give a talent, transforming them from working for us to running a business with us.

If none of these are realistic, then for their own good, actively encourage them to go out. "A loss may turn out to be a gain." We may find that the more we tell someone to leave, the more they want to stay and fight alongside us for a while longer, and more talents will be willing to gather around us.

**4. Be Flexible, Be Friends**

In fact, many talents who leave SMEs often say about their former bosses, "He's a good friend, but as a boss, he's a bit lacking."

We should also continue to recharge ourselves, keep learning and improving, to enhance our discernment and direction control. Don't be someone who doesn't listen to advice and makes bad moves, putting talents, ourselves, and the company in a constant state of frustration.

At the same time, we must remind ourselves: talents are hired to be used, not to be decorations. How to use them? Not only their hands-on and execution abilities, but also their thoughts. That is, open your mind, listen to all sides.

In fact, whether it's retaining people or using people, there is a very important topic: studying and fully utilizing human nature. If we improve our grasp of human nature, even a small shift in our mindset can greatly benefit us in retaining talent.

However, you might think that some of the suggestions I mentioned are easier said than done, but we must be clear: the fear is only sighing and complaining, without reflection or change.

**Treat Job-Hopping Correctly**

Not all job-hoppers leave because of low wages. Most well-known companies don't pay high salaries, have strict management, and high pressure, yet their turnover rates are relatively low. Why? Because employees value the company's advanced training management system, strong brand power, corporate culture, and certain growth space.

In large companies, most employees learn while working, accumulate experience, and then go out to explore the world. Objectively speaking, these companies use soft methods to retain excellent employees, saving labor costs, which is a successful move.

Distributors may not have their own brands, but they can also use their corporate culture to unite employees, enhance team spirit and learning atmosphere. Give employees the right to speak, create a fair and just competitive environment, and form a spirited team.

In any case, normal employee turnover is inevitable. A normal turnover rate is a good thing for a company. Companies should have the mindset of "the sea is wide for fish to leap, the sky is high for birds to fly," letting departing employees leave with gratitude and nostalgia. These employees will still be friends of the company and will help in various ways in the future.

Making the topic of job-hopping less heavy is the best.

**-END-**

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