I've worked for small businesses where the owner is stuck in hell working 6-7 days a week and long hours doing all the grunt work themselves as they can't get the right group of employees together to make anything work right.

Hiring the wrong type of people and putting them in the wrong positions for their personality, or skillsets. Grumpy people as the first point of contact = bad idea.

Trying to be friends with below average employees that walk all over them anyways. Give them a raise and more paid vacation time hoping to straighten them out, and they still behave the same as before.

Not valuing the actual good employees that do make the place work so they wander off and find a better place at usually the worst time possible. Turnovers can be a disaster and can lead to good people quitting when they get screwed too.


I've also worked for small business that run pretty well, and the owner only shows up to sign checks and to check in on things a few times a week so it's possible.

Some of the under 35 crowd today want a lot of paid time off right up front and "work flexibility" meaning they can leave at the drop of the hat to go wherever with their friends for an impromptu 4 day weekend. They tend not to ask and rather just do it and call in to tell the manager they have left town and will be back "later". These types see jobs as temporary gigs so they tend to not really care about the job enough to worry about losing it.