Employee Retention: Reasons Employees Leave
Workers still consider a competitive pay and benefits package to be indispensable,
but employers need to offer more than that to keep employees satisfied and on the
job. Nearly all of the workforce (96 percent) rated a fair salary as very or somewhat
important and 93 percent said the same for benefits. However, when workers' needs
regarding career advancement, the relationship with their manager, and training
are not being met, they are more likely to look for a new job than when their salary
and benefits are poor.
Among workers who consider career advancement opportunities to be very important
yet believe their employers are doing a poor job of meeting that need, 41 percent
are actively seeking a new job. Only five percent of the workers in this category
would not consider another job offer. The next most likely turnover trouble spots
are the relationship with manager and training. When individuals rank these factors
as very important but feel their employer is doing a poor job at providing them,
37 percent and 36 percent are actively looking, respectively. By contrast, 34 percent
of workers who highly value salary but work for a company that does a poor job are
actively seeking a new position, and 31 percent of those who feel the same about
benefits are looking.
"While monetary considerations continue to be key elements in retaining talent,
other, often intangible, factors can play a significant role in an employee's decision
to stay with or leave an organization," says Robert Morgan, COO, Hudson Human Capital
Solutions. "As employers confront issues of continually rising healthcare costs
and restricted salary budgets, they should consider implementing programs such as
flexible working arrangements and manager training initiatives as ways to reduce
turnover."
Highlighting the need for a sound retention strategy is the decreasing job tenure
within the workforce, as a significant portion (50%) expects to change companies
within the next five years and over one-third (36%) within less than three years.
Additionally, one-third (32 percent) of the workforce is actively job searching
or has an updated resume and would consider job offers, while just one-quarter (25
percent) would not consider changing jobs at the current time. "Clearly, employment
for life is no longer a realistic concept for most workers," says Morgan. "Employers
who can elicit just an extra year or two of tenure stand to benefit from dramatically
reduced turnover costs."
Hudson's survey explores a variety of factors surrounding retention, with results
segmented by categories including company size, employee type, age, income, race
and gender. Other key findings include:
- While there is virtually no difference between managers and non-managers
when it comes to current job search efforts, managers were more likely
to believe that top talent stays at their company (49 percent compared
to 35 percent) and also more likely to recommend their employer to
others (70 percent compared to 57 percent).
- Workers are torn about retention among the top performers in their
organization -- 40 percent report that they stay and move up within the
organization, while another 40 percent think they leave the firm to find
better jobs somewhere else.
- A majority of U.S. workers (62 percent) would recommend their company as
a good place to work.
- Only 36% percent of the respondents reported that their organizations
conduct internal surveys to gather feedback from their employee base. Of
those, nearly three-quarters (72 percent) always participate.
- Three in ten (30 percent) accounting workers would not consider another
job offer, while just one-fifth (19 percent) of human resource and
manufacturing workers feel that way.
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