Your Employees Have Quit—They Just Haven’t Left

Chauncy Horton
Jun 10
5 min read

Years ago, my father handed me a short book that would shift the way I lead: "Your Employees Have Quit—They Just Haven’t Left" by Rich Schlentz. It was simple, direct, and deeply convicting.

The premise? That the people on your payroll may still show up every day—but they’ve long since checked out.

This message hit me hard. As a small business owner, especially in a demanding industry like construction, it’s easy to focus on getting the job done. But behind every task completed is a person—and when those people feel unseen, unheard, or unappreciated, they may not walk out the door immediately, but their passion and performance have already exited.

Culture isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. And it might be the most underrated factor in your business’s long-term success.

Why People Really Leave

Contrary to popular belief, most employees don’t leave their jobs because of the work itself. They leave because of how the work makes them feel—or more precisely, how the people they work with and for make them feel.

You see it all the time: someone leaves your construction crew and takes the same job two blocks down. They didn’t get tired of the trade. They got tired of the environment.

They felt overworked and underappreciated.
They lacked a voice or input.
They got passed over or overlooked.
They worked under a toxic supervisor or were never recognized for doing good work.

In Rich Schlentz’s book, he writes, “It’s hard to get excited about an employer who doesn’t get excited about you.” That one sentence is a blueprint for a culture shift.

If your employees are just clocking in and out, you may not have a team—you have a timecard army. And the difference between the two is night and day.

The Hidden Cost of a Bad Culture

When people quit emotionally but stay physically, it drains your company:

Productivity drops. Work gets done slower, with less care.
Turnover increases. People stick around just long enough to find something better.
Morale erodes. Even your best employees start to disengage.
Your reputation suffers. Good workers talk, and they’ll quietly steer others away.

Here’s the painful truth: your company may not be losing money because of competition. You might be losing it because your team no longer believes in your leadership.

Culture Is Built from the Top Down

Culture doesn’t live in a policy manual. It lives in your daily decisions as a leader.

In small businesses especially, culture is personal. Every conversation, every correction, every win, every oversight—it all matters.

When you choose profits over people consistently, you create an unspoken message: “You’re disposable.”

And when you allow one bad apple to stick around just because they’re a high performer or they’ve “been here forever,” you tell the rest of the team: “Your peace doesn’t matter.”

That’s how slow cultural decay begins. And once it starts, it doesn’t slow down until someone with clarity and courage steps in to reset the tone.

Tangible Ways to Build a Winning Culture

You don’t need a massive HR department or Silicon Valley-style perks to create a culture that retains good people. You need intention.

Here are tangible, proven ways small businesses can invest in team culture:

1. Celebrate Wins—Big and Small

Start team meetings by recognizing great work.
Share success stories with clients or stakeholders.
Send out a monthly “Team Highlight” email.

2. Create Space for Connection

Schedule regular team lunches or breakfast check-ins.
Host quarterly outings—even if it’s a BBQ at the shop.
Pair new hires with peer mentors for onboarding.

3. Invest in Their Growth

Pay for a certification, seminar, or online course.
Offer “lunch and learn” workshops.
Let employees lead training sessions to share expertise.

4. Prioritize Physical and Mental Health

Provide water, snacks, and a clean breakroom.
Encourage PTO—actually encourage it.
Bring in a speaker or resource on stress management or mental resilience.

5. Offer Financial Incentives That Matter

Give spot bonuses for outstanding work.
Create profit-sharing or performance-based rewards.
Help with gas cards, tool stipends, or even childcare referrals.

6. Make Communication a Two-Way Street

Ask for feedback—and act on it.
Hold quarterly stay interviews (“What would make you stay another year?”)
Use anonymous surveys for honest input.

7. Celebrate Life Events

Birthdays, baby showers, graduations—acknowledge it all.
Send a card or meal when someone is sick or grieving.

8. Clarify Purpose

Regularly remind the team why their work matters.
Share client testimonials and end results.
Connect the dots between the daily grind and the bigger mission.

Culture doesn’t have to cost much—but it must cost something. A little effort here creates enormous loyalty down the line.

What Kills Culture

Let’s not pretend it’s all sunshine and lunch breaks. There are real enemies of healthy culture that must be rooted out.

Here are a few:

Silent resentment. When concerns go unspoken or unresolved, they grow.
Favoritism. When one person gets away with more or gets rewarded disproportionately, it poisons the well.
Toxic leadership. A negative supervisor affects retention more than paychecks ever will.
Lack of recognition. Hard work that goes unnoticed eventually stops showing up.
Burnout. When workloads keep increasing without extra support, motivation disappears.
No clear future. If there’s no growth path, people will find one elsewhere.

As a leader, you have to consistently ask: What’s it like to work here? Would I want my own kid to be on this crew?

If the answer isn’t a confident yes, it’s time for a cultural check-up.

You Can’t Afford to Ignore Culture

You may think you can’t afford to spend time or money on culture right now.

But here’s the truth: you can’t afford not to.

The cost of replacing a team member, retraining, and dealing with the loss of momentum is often far greater than the cost of investing in the people you already have.

And in today’s labor market—especially in blue-collar industries like construction, logistics, and trades—people talk. They know which companies treat employees like family and which treat them like parts.

Be the former.

Final Word: Culture Is the Foundation, Not the Finishing Touch

Culture isn’t something you add after the business gets big. It’s something you build as the business grows.

And it starts with asking yourself a hard but necessary question: Have my employees quit… and just haven’t left yet?

If the answer is yes—or even maybe—then it’s time to go to work. Not just on your product, not just on your profit margins—but on your people.

Because without them, you don’t have a company.

They don’t need perfection. But they do need presence. They don’t need handouts. But they do need hope. They don’t need constant praise. But they do need consistent respect.

Start small. Stay consistent. Build something worth staying for.