- How likely are people to leave their current positions?
- What categories of workers are most likely to leave their existing jobs?
- How is turnover impacting businesses?
- Why are employees leaving?
- What are the best practices for businesses to retain their best employees?
In the U.S., 47 percent of respondents feel that the highest percent of turnover is occurring within specific employee groups. Within these employee groups, managers cited Generation Y employees (under 25) as the employee group most likely to have the highest levels of attrition (42 percent), followed by frontline managers (28 percent), and women (20 percent).
"Attrition among high performing employees is largely catalyzed by insufficient compensation, lack of growth opportunities and employee contributions not being recognized," said AchieveGlobal CEO Sharon Daniels. "The effects of high performers vacating job positions can ripple throughout many levels of a company, resulting in low employee morale or deteriorating quality of products or services. Talent management programs must address rapid turnover effectively and efficiently so that attrition doesn’t negatively impact an organization."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics September 2008 report, overall U.S. voluntary turnover for September 2008 was relatively flat from the month before at 1.5 percent, but the more significant number was the steady decline in voluntary turnover the previous three months, bringing the level to its lowest point since August 2003. Not surprisingly, the highest turnover rates are still in the accommodation and food service industry (3.8 percent) and lowest in state and local government (.6 percent).
"While overall turnover rates may decrease in the current economy, keeping high performers will still be a competitive advantage," said Daniels. "It’s understood that compensation benefits are not always feasible with smaller budgets, but human resources can focus on other talent management aspects, such as ensuring employee recognition, having career development strategies and allowing flexibility for a healthy work-life balance."
Organizations experiencing tough budget decisions should consider talent management strategies that shift focus to emphasize growth and development opportunities, or maximize awareness of, and appreciation for, the organization’s learning environment. Best practices for successfully retaining valuable employees may include creating an employee engagement plan to keep open communications channels with talent, providing a learning environment through employee training, and developing or implementing talent management technology to manage all aspects of the employee experience from recruitment to retirement.
