Across the country, employers are asking the question, “why do my best employees quit?” The process of hiring and retaining excellent employees is becoming more and more difficult, and companies are wondering what can be done about it.
In 2021, employee turnover rates reached record highs, with nearly 10 million employees leaving their jobs in the last two months of the year. This “Great Resignation” is costing employers thousands, if not millions, of dollars in employee turnover costs. Companies are losing valuable employees left and right, and spending an estimated $15-30K on hiring and training costs to replace each employee who resigned.
With competing recruiters aggressively searching for top talent and making unbeatable offers, even employees who aren’t actively looking to shift gears are putting in their two weeks’ notice. And when these great employees quit, it affects everyone — morale suffers, productivity decreases and other team members are forced to pick up the slack.
What can be done about this? How can you ensure employee satisfaction and decrease the odds of losing your best talent?
Before you can outline and implement a plan to retain your employees, you need to understand why they are leaving in the first place. In this article, we’ll walk you through the top reasons people leave a job, so you can not only better understand how to prevent resignations, but also learn how to build your best team.
LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE REASONS WHY EMPLOYEES QUIT
HIGHER WAGES
At the end of the day, money matters. In fact, “59% [of employees] said they would leave because of a more appealing offer from a new company, not because they’re seeking an escape from their current company,” and 32% of employees plan to look for a new job in 2022 in order to pursue a higher salary.
LACK OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT
At the end of the day, no one wants to be stuck at a dead-end job. Even with a positive work environment, a fair salary and great managers, 32% of employees are expected to look for a new job this year in order to seek advancement opportunities. Your employees need to feel like there is potential for them to grow with your company — even if they aren’t looking for a management position.
MISMATCHED VALUES
Having and communicating a clear mission and vision for your company has become more important than ever. Employees want to work for organizations they can be passionate about. As Robert Half reports, 71% of employees said they’d leave a company whose values didn’t align with their own.
MORE FLEXIBILITY
Especially in a post-pandemic world, it’s essential that companies offer flexible scheduling and remote work options. According to the 2021 Technologist Sentiment Reportfrom Dice, 59% of employees favor 100% remote or hybrid approaches versus 17% who say working in an office full-time is extremely or very desirable. In fact, a 2018 Upwork Future Workforce Report found that more than half of hiring managers at companies with remote work options said hiring and retaining employees has gotten easier.
POOR MANAGEMENT AND UNHEARD FEEDBACK
At any company, employees need to know that their voice matters. A recent Employee Experience Report found that 60% of employees believe their managers lack proper training and largely feel unacknowledged or unappreciated at work. When employee comments and opinions go unaddressed, they are more likely to seek a workplace where they feel seen and heard.
BURNOUT
With so many employees leaving their jobs each year, those who stay are left to train new team members and pick up the slack. This leads to overworked, exhausted employees. According to a 2021 Work Trend Index from Microsoft, 54% of employees feel overworked and 39% feel exhausted. It’s crucial to acknowledge the hard work of your team and emphasize the importance of work-life balance. This ensures that employees know they are not only an essential part of your company but that their personal life matters to you, too.
LACK OF COMMUNICATION
Regular feedback is not only extremely important to employees but will give managers the opportunity to understand if a member of your team is feeling dissatisfied at work. If managers aren’t creating a space to offer feedback and check in with employees on a regular basis, then your organization is at risk of falling out of touch with your talent — and upping the chances that they’ll leave.
FEELING UNDERAPPRECIATED
At the end of the day, all of these reasons for employee dissatisfaction can be funneled into one main category — underappreciation. When employees feel that their voices are not being heard, that they are underpaid, or that their employer is unwilling to recognize their hard work, they are far more likely to seek employment elsewhere.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREVENT EMPLOYEE TURNOVER?
It is clear that when employees feel their work is recognized, they’re more engaged, motivated, and less likely to seek out other opportunities. Despite knowing the impact that recognition and overall workplace culture can have on a business’s bottom line, many companies admit to completely failing at recognizing the success of their employees — leading to talent feeling burnt out and underappreciated.
Here are the facts: Organizations with formal recognition programs have 31% less voluntary turnover than organizations that don’t have any program at all — and they’re 12x more likely to have strong business outcomes. Moreover, companies who utilize recognition software to celebrate and champion their employees experience 28.6% lower frustration levels than those without, leading to a more positive and productive workplace.
Recognition shouldn’t only be about success and goal achievement. Employees want to be seen and valued every day — not just during their “big wins”. Using strategic recognition software can help you easily celebrate the micro-moments along the way — such as quality work, taking on new tasks or going above and beyond for your team. After all, it is the day-to-day functions that keep a company afloat, not just the mountain top moments.
So, where do you begin? How can you increase employee satisfaction and decrease turnover?
CULTURENEXT® KEEPS MORALE HIGH AND RESIGNATION RATES LOW
CultureNext®, an employee recognition platform from Maritz, goes beyond traditional employee recognition software to empower you to celebrate the many dimensions of your employee base. This platform creates a thoughtful recognition and rewards ecosystem to help you nurture, grow and retain the right employees — for longer.
CultureNext® uses a person-first approach, guided by Strategic Tenure™ — an emerging way of thinking about investing in and developing the right employees. Our goal is to help you create employee happiness through a culture of employee appreciation. By celebrating the accomplishments of your team, both big and small, retention rates will increase and you will not only save money, but you will also add value to your organization through thoughtful workplace culture and employee engagement.
CELEBRATE YOUR EMPLOYEES, WATCH YOUR COMPANY THRIVE
Don’t fall victim to the pitfalls of the modern workplace. You deserve hard-working employees, and your employees deserve to feel appreciated, connected and engaged with their work. The solution? An investment in employee recognition.
With CultureNext®, you can not only keep your best talent, but you can spark joy and inspire more productivity throughout your organization as a whole — leading to saved costs and higher ROI. By focusing on your employees, rather than defending your budget, you will add considerable value to your business and significantly reduce your budget for hiring and training. Because after all, why would an employee leave a company that not only recognizes their hard work but rewards them for it?
A happier, more productive workplace is waiting. Contact us today to increase employee satisfaction and create conditions that drive employee engagement, happiness and ultimately, retention.