IndexCreating jobs for funMaking it possible to engage at work and at homeJob QuotePeople don't leave a job, the saying goes: they leave a boss. We heard this so many times that when we started tracking why employees leave Facebook, all bets were on managers. But our engagement survey results tell a different story: When we wanted to retain people and they left anyway, it wasn't because of their manager... at least not in the way we expected. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Of course, people are more likely to jump ship when they have a horrible boss. But we've spent years working to select and develop great managers at Facebook, and the majority of our interviewees said they were satisfied with theirs. The decision to leave was because of work. They left when their jobs were no longer enjoyable, their strengths were not being used, and their careers were not growing. On Facebook, people don't leave a boss, they leave their jobs. And who is responsible for what that work looks like? Manager. If you want to retain your employees, especially your stars, it's time to pay more attention to how you design their work. Most companies design jobs and then place people in them. Our best managers sometimes do the opposite: when they find talented people, they are open to creating jobs around them. Working with our People Analytics team, we analyzed our survey data to predict who will stay or leave over the next six months, and in the process we learned something interesting about those who ultimately stayed. They found their work enjoyable 31% more often, used their strengths 33% more often, and expressed 37% more confidence that they were gaining the skills and experiences needed to develop their careers . This highlights three key ways managers can personalize experiences for their employees: empower them to do work they enjoy, help them leverage their strengths, and chart a career development path that meets personal priorities. Creating Jobs for FunMany of us have unanswered callings at work—passions we've failed to pursue in our careers. Even if we lacked the talent, opportunity, or means to make them our occupations, pursuing a different career doesn't make these passions disappear. They persist, like the professional version of those who escaped. And since we spend most of our waking hours at work, there isn't always time to pursue these unanswered calls as hobbies. So we look for ways to bring our passions into our work. Personally, we know a lawyer who missed his dream of becoming a pilot and so sought aviation cases, and a teacher who abandoned his music career but brings a guitar to class. But within organizations, people often need support to create their own work. Managers can play an important role in designing jobs that are motivating and meaningful. The best do their best to help people do work they enjoy, even if it means moving them from roles at which they excel. A few years ago, one of Facebook's directors, Cynthia, was leading a large team of HR business partners. She realized she wasn't spending her time doing what she enjoyed most: solving problems with her customers. She had taken on majorsresponsibility in managing a large team through his strength as a trusted advisor to some of Facebook's top leaders. But once she entered the workforce, she realized it meant doing less of the work that energized her. With the support of her manager, Cynthia brought on a new person to the team, with the long-term vision of asking her to manage the team and then moving on. return to the role of individual collaborator. Cynthia wasn't just hiring a direct report; he was hiring his future boss. Once the new hire was underway and it was clear that she liked the organizational and people management elements of her job, she and Cynthia made the switch. Cynthia is now thriving, solving problems for the customers she loves so much, and her new hire is leading the team. For her manager, keeping Cynthia on Facebook was much more important than keeping her in a particular role. Too often, managers don't know enough about the work people like. It spills over into exit interviews – a standard practice in every HR department to find out why talented people leave and what would convince them to stay. But why wait until they're walking out the door? One of us, Adam, has worked with companies across multiple industries to design entry interviews. In their first week on the job, managers sit down with new hires and ask them about their favorite projects they've done, the moments they felt most energetic at work, the moments they found themselves totally immersed in one state of flow and the passions they have outside of their work. Armed with this knowledge, managers can build engaging roles right from the start. Strengths In a world dominated by specialization, we are long past the era of the Renaissance man. Once in a blue moon we see one. Marie Curie won a Nobel Prize for her pioneering work in physics, and then earned another in chemistry. Richard Feynman transformed electrodynamics, decoded Mayan hieroglyphics, and cracked safes in his spare time. While few achieve this level of achievement in multiple fields, many talented people are polymaths. At Facebook, our chief diversity officer is a former lawyer, journalist and talk show host; one of our communications managers sang in a rock band; and one of our product managers is a former teacher. Unfortunately, the narrow job descriptions created by companies stifle their ability to utilize the full range of their employees' skills. Smart managers create opportunities for people to leverage their strengths. To see how this might work, let's consider Chase, who most recently worked as a software engineer at Instagram. About six months ago, when his team went through a rapid product iteration to introduce new tools and formats, Chase helped lead the team to exceptional results. But he finished the project, drained from the extensive coding and cross-functional work, and began to wonder if there were other ways to contribute. Talking to his manager, Lu, he realized that while he had a strong technical background, his forte was building prototypes to quickly demonstrate concepts and then iterate. But Instagram didn't have any roles that combined these skills, and Chase had no experience in traditional design work. Lu convinced the design team to take a risk and let Chase try out a new role for a "hacka month." " During that time, Chase worked with Ryan, head of product design, to quickly build several prototypes that tested new ways of, 90(2), 399–406.