What is the number 1 challenge facing companies across the globe? If you thought it was changing markets, economic slowdown, or demanding customers, you’d be wrong.
Companies across the world are trying to figure out how to manage their attrition woes. Talent, the most valuable asset of any organization, is walking out of the door!
Research shows:
− The average employee turnover rate between 2013 and 2018 stood at an average of 23%
− Employee turnover costs US companies $160 billion a year
− A third of new hires quit their job after about six months.
− The average cost of replacing executives earning high salaries is 213% of annual salary
The real cost of attrition manifests in hours of lost productivity and lost tribal knowledge. Then there is the cost associated with hiring and training the employee who also must hit the ground running once this ‘honeymoon period’ is over.
Given the impact that attrition can have on an organization, it makes sense to evaluate what you can do to address these perilous waters. We’re not going to delve into the ‘poor managers’ argument because what your employees might be looking for are greener pastures for the following reasons:
The changing motivations at work
Millennials are on their way to dominate the workforce. Traditional career goals such as impressive salaries, the corner office, fancy perks, etc. don’t resonate with this generation. So, what do they want? Millennials are driven by purpose. Research shows that millennials with jobs that have purpose give their best at work. Another study points out that 67% of millennials would leave an organization in the lack/absence of growth opportunities and avenues for leadership development.
Poor employee engagement
We all know employee engagement is important. Engaged employees are more productive than the disengaged ones. They are also less likely to leave an organization. However, we seem to have confused employee engagement with fancy cafeterias, pool tables, and office parties.
A survey revealed that one-third of employees quit their jobs because they did not learn any new skills. 77% of employees feel they are ‘on their own’ to develop their career paths within the company.
Employee engagement is about showing your employees that you are ‘invested’ in their careers. Your employees want to see you take initiatives to help them navigate their career paths. If organizations don?t step up, they will simply leave.
The lure of better opportunities
The fact is, enterprises can do more to the situation. Now, organizations have the tools to realize who their high−value employees are. There are a bundle of behavioral skill analysis tests and 16 Personality Factor tests that give direct insights into the capability of your employees, capabilities that traditional end-of-year reviews fail to capture.
Insights from these tests reveal avenues in which your employees want to experience meaningful change and help you identify what you need to do to help your workforce connect with their work better. These insights will enable organizations to create opportunities that would otherwise take employees to other organizations.
Unsurprisingly, this ties back to the point we have made earlier − about employees wanting to work in organizations that show that they are invested in their growth trajectory.
So, what’s the magic bullet?
One of the key things that organizations need to do to alleviate these challenges is to establish robust mentorship programs. Mentorship programs that help employees not only connect with mentors within the organization (peer−driven mentoring) but externally as well, can drive ‘purpose−led’ employee engagement. These initiatives help employees navigate the challenges that they face in the workplace, assist them in addressing their growth impediments or developing skills they need to succeed. They also add greater value to their lives.
Mentoring helps foster a ‘growth mindset’ with employees and also assists in addressing the diversity challenge that many organizations face. Giving them access to such mentoring programs also puts them in charge of charting their growth story by bringing about authentic change. And by doing all this, it takes away the reason for wanting to leave an organization. Greater employee retention, thus, becomes the automatic consequence of the initiative.
Redefine the Future of Work at your organization with NumlyEngage™ Enterprise, the world’s first AI−enabled, Employee Engagement, and Skills−Development, People Network Platform, built on patent−pending machine intelligence technology.
