For employers, a challenge to deal with, in order to improve retention, are the common reasons for which the employees tend to migrate towards better positions. Here are some of them:
Expectations not Met
Expectations play a large part in determining whether an employee is satisfied or dissatisfied with the current state of affairs. On joining the firm the individual will have a range of expectations covering areas such as the style of management, the working hours, holidays, pay, and bonus and so on. It is not unusual for employees to leave within the first six months when they discover that things aren’t quite as they imagined they would be. Their expectations may have been unrealistic from day one, but each departure is yet more disruption, harming productivity, adding extra unnecessary costs and making it more difficult to reach goals for sales, revenue and profitability. Few firms seem to appreciate the importance of expectations. They don’t ask candidates about their expectations, giving them the opportunity to select someone who is unlikely to be disappointed, and therefore, more likely to stay.
Mismatch between the Person and the Role
Employees, who find themselves in roles that do not suit their individual strengths, tend not to stay around that long. A productive employee gets promoted into a position that requires skills that they do not possess a role that exposes their weaknesses, and as a result, a role that they do not enjoy. Faced with the prospect of having to spend many months, perhaps years, in a job that is a struggle, a job that they find difficult, a job that is a mismatch for their specific talents, most of them choose to leave the company and go.
Mismatch between Person and the Culture of the Firm
It is not so much that there is a single ideal culture, more that cultures vary, and as many departures show, not everyone is likely to be ideally suited to culture of your firm. Some workplaces are high pressured, fast paced, dynamic, ideal for people who thrive on adrenaline, who enjoy this tempo, constantly being on the go. Others are caring, emotional, long discussions, shared views. Endless dialogue before action is taken. Everyone’s opinion counts. Put an employee in a culture that suits their temperament and they feel at home. It is an environment in which they can function to the best of their abilities. But put an employee in a firm whose culture does suit their personality, their style or their approach and it rarely works. They don’t settle, they under-perform, they miss the feel of previous employers where they were able to contribute more. They leave.
Insufficient Opportunities for Growth and Advancement
Employees want to make progress, to get ahead. They want to make that next step up the career ladder. They think about where they would like to be in 5 years time, in 10 years time. Their loyalty is largely to themselves, to make the most out of the natural talents, the skills, and determination they possess. They recognize the importance of building new skills, refining current ones, getting new experiences. If the opportunities aren’t available with their current employer, they will find look elsewhere.
Insufficient Recognition or Appreciation
The Employees that don’t receive adequate recognition for their contribution, that get little appreciation for their efforts, start to wonder why they bother. And it doesn’t take much to tempt them away. Employees that did not feel valued, that felt that their efforts, their hard work, was not appreciated, that their achievements, their contribution to the success of the business, was not recognized. Employees want to feel valued; as though their role is important, as though the business needs them. They want someone to say thank you. Thanks for that piece of work, thanks for helping out in a crisis, thanks for dealing with that problem.
Problems with Direct Manager
The state of the relationship between an employee and their direct manager goes a long way towards determining whether they stay or leave. Some employees stay far longer than might otherwise be expected because of the relationship they have with their supervisor. Others leave jobs in the first few months because they sense their manager is not someone that brings the best out of them. And they need to get away. Because the daily challenge of dealing with someone they dislike, someone that lacks basic people skills, is just too much to bear. Poor relationships between employees and their managers are one of the most common reasons for employee turnover.
Dissatisfaction with Pay
Not receiving a fair salary, a fair pay rise, a fair bonus. Dissatisfaction with financial rewards is complex. Much of the dissatisfaction is due to comparisons. A previously adequate salary starts to feel insufficient when you have just learnt that a new arrival is receiving a higher wage for performing a similar role. Salaries rarely remain a secret. The information leaks out. If it isn’t fair, if it isn’t equitable, if the procedure for determining pay settlements is tainted, employees become dissatisfied. And in time many of them leave.
Stress
The stress of work, the stress from working long hours, and the stress related to pressure from above; employees can take only so much. Stress drives employees into the arms of alternative employers. They simply want to get away from the workplace, from the people involved, from the firm. A stressful workplace is rarely a productive one. Attrition is high, people don’t matter; there will always be someone else to fill the vacancy. And in time they too will probably leave for much the same reasons. Stressful work environments tend to be high turnover environments. If there is an alternative, people take it.
Lack of Work-Life Balance
Employees have responsibilities to their employer, to their families, to their friends. There are times when the demands of work require extra hours, staying late to get things finished, working during weekends to meet deadlines. For some employees the demands of work are no longer compatible with the needs of their family, the needs that exist beyond the workplace. Perhaps they coped better when they were younger, before they got married, before they had a family. But now the arrangement just isn’t practical. They need a better work-life balance. They need to have time for themselves. Time to take care of loved ones. Free time not devoted to work.
Loss of Confidence in the Firm, particularly Leadership
Confidence matters. Companies go bust; you just need to read the papers, watch the news, to realize the risk involved. When employees lose confidence in the firm’s leadership they head towards the exit door. They know that confidence matters, that seemingly invincible companies can collapse in days, if not hours. They don’t want to be left without a job, should the company go under, or be taken over.
Other factors for retention strategy’s that might be identified as a challenge are a robust economy, shift in how people view their careers, changes in the unspoken “contract” between employer and employee, corporate cocooning, a new generation of workers and changes in social mores.