Why Do People Quit Jobs? Seeking Solutions to Turnover Issues
Concerned about staff turnover? For starters, turnover is totally normal, except that… … nearly [1] in 2024. In an era where the costs and repercussions of high job turnover is a growing and ongoing concern, employers are right to worry about the high workforce turnover rates we’re seeing. Coming up with sustainable ways to maximize employee retention is beyond essential. Exactly how worried should you be, then, about your company’s current turnover rates? First off, typical staff turnover rates will vary per industry. So, it would be wise to start with collecting industry-specific data. In a robust business with healthy turnover, rates typically never exceed 10%[2]. Now, with the help of this handy formula below, you can calculate your staff turnover rate with mathematical accuracy:
This formula calculates the percentage of people who leave an organization in any given year compared to the total average number of employees for that same year. All departures must be accounted for, no matter what caused someone to leave.
If your organization’s turnover rate is troubling you, you will likely have already picked up on the fact that giving out more raises and perks is not the answer. There is no magic potion or stock-standard recipe-for-success that can fix this particular kind of quandary.
Primarily, it stands to reason that you would first need to ascertain the underlying causes behind all your departures, with a view to then adopt strategies that fit your particular organizational scenarios.
[1] Article on CNBC.com May 2024: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/08/nearly-50percent-of-people-are-considering-leaving-their-jobs-in-2024.html
[2] HR as a Source of Shareholder Value: Research and Recommendations. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2404511_HR_as_a_Source_of_Shareholder_Value_Research_and_Recommendations
The Reasons Employees Leave
Contrary to popular belief, fewer than one in ten people[1] quit jobs for financial reasons.
Naturally, there’s no harm in conducting a salary benchmarking exercise to see how you fare against the competition. All the same, plenty of other factors influence an employee’s choice to leave a job – so, let’s explore those…
Some enlightening statistics on people’s reasons for leaving:
- 50% of hourly-paid employees supposedly quit before their 100th day on the job – that’s roughly three months. (Source: Never Lose an Employee Again, Joey Coleman).
- The proportion of salaried employees who quit by the 100th day is reportedly closer to 20%.
- Similar studies have shown that 30% of employees[1] quit in the first 90 days.
- For high performers, among the most common reasons for quitting[2] is a lack of career growth opportunities.
- Gallup workplace statistics show “quiet quitters” as making up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce – and that this disturbing trend is clearly linked to poor management.
Evidently, the causes underlying high staff turnover can be multiple. It is therefore quite crucial to collect data on those specific causes which affect your own organization in an explicit way, before exploring any particular avenues as solutions.
[3] So You Want to Quit Your Brand-New Job…. by Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/12/so-you-want-to-quit-your-brand-new-job
[4] Beyond Money: The Real Reasons Employees Stay Or Leave by Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2023/07/09/beyond-money-the-real-reasons-employees-stay-or-leave/
[5] Is Quiet Quitting Real? https://www.gallup.com/workplace/398306/quiet-quitting-real.aspx
Cutting Turnover Rates: A Few Solutions
Avoid Hiring Mistakes in the First Place
Naturally, better recruiting strategies can help. Recruiting is not just a case of picking the most impressive or most qualified candidates out there on the market. It’s about assessing who is the best fit for this job.
Finding a perfect match isn’t just about technical skills or task competency alone. Both behavior and motivation should factor heavily into the equation. Behavior and motivation impact quality-of-hire as well as people’s overall wellbeing at work.
Treat People Differently
You don’t need to look far to find endless tips and tricks on how to improve jobs, such as flex-schedules, offering training and development opportunities, changes to the office layout or workflow…
That said, before making any of those changes, it’s important to recognize that people differ, and so do their needs. Using a one-size-fits-all solution isn’t likely to cut it.
Overall workplace wellbeing starts with individual wellbeing – for each person within their own specific job. To feel good about a job, an employee needs to feel like their innate personality fits well with the organization’s (and the job’s) behavioral expectations. Feeling like you don’t fit the bill and you can’t deliver what’s expected of you, will inevitably lead to frustrations and affect motivation.
In order to adapt job perks to different people, you need to start by identifying, understanding and considering people’s distinct behaviors, personal needs, motivational factors, innate talent profiles and preferred communication styles.
Communicate Better
Workplace communication plays a key role in fostering a welcoming and satisfying environment where employees want to stick around. As previously stated, people differ – and this applies as much to communication styles as anything else.
A particular personality can influence the communication dynamics that occur between coworkers, as well as in the day-to-day with team leaders, and with upper management.
A deeper look at adaptive strategies for different communication styles is helpful in order to adjust to different people and foster constructive exchanges in any work setting.
Adaptive communication strategies will help curtail conflict before things can escalate, and therefore hopefully also deter people from quitting and curb your turnover rates.
Focus on Employee Growth
While optimizing the hiring and onboarding process is important for talent retention, it’s just as important to provide clear career paths and personal development opportunities.
Employee wellbeing should be tracked on a regular basis too. A comprehensive staff development plan should be drawn up annually – accounting for employee needs, current business needs and the organization’s overall strategic plan.
Not sure how to get started on all that? It can be helpful to work with an expert advisor who has experience in designing organizational development plans for a wide range of industries and business types.
Psychometric Tools Can Help Reduce Turnover
Psychometric tools are pretty commonplace among hiring practices. What many don’t know is that they can be used after the first month on the job to conduct a check-in with new employees and make sure there’s a good fit – with the right person in the right job.
These same tools are an excellent way to assess an employee’s talent and detect unexplored potential that is developable. Psychometrics is among the most effective of methods if you seek to grow and retain human capital.
“When hiring, my team and I focus our interviews quite heavily on the specific job-related competencies. The MPO Questionnaire also serves as a powerful and effective tool in staff development, both for current and future positions a person might take on.
On a daily basis, we seek to optimize employee growth and foster a sense of accomplishment – all the while keeping people motivated, mobilized and engaged” Guy Girard, Head of Human Resources at Ekkinox
To Sum Up – What Does This All Mean?
Reducing turnover is something which requires depth of thought – an organization-wide strategy that considers the many facets involved in the human experience and in workplace engineering. Lower turnover stems from a combination of setting up good work conditions and setting up systems that can minimize staff departures – consequently minimizing the negative trickle-down repercussions on an organization.
By committing to a more comprehensive staff integration and management approach through psychometrics, human resource professionals invariably notice that not only does their recruiting improve, but their role as a key strategic business partner is underlined.
When correctly used, psychometric tests can play a crucial role in precision hiring efforts – resulting in strong recruiting performance and good retention numbers – all by aiming for high compatibility between workers and the work setting.
Get in touch with us to hear more about how the MPO Solution can work for you!