Don’t Lose Your Best People

 

According to research conducted by Ipsos Research at the end of 2020, about 1 in 4 U.S. employees planned to leave their employer as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. 

 

According to Engagement and Retention report, presented by the Achievers Workshop Institute in early 2021, 52% of employees surveyed plan to seek new employment in 2021. 

 

Employees are most likely to leave a current job for one with better compensation and benefits or better work/life balance.  The majority of employees cited burnout as the main reason. 

 

Can you sustain your business if you lose 25% to 50% of your employees?  It is inevitable that you will see a lot of employee movement.  The type of employees you lose will differ by industry, but no one can afford to lose their best people.

 

There are some steps you can take now to mitigate the loss and retain many of your important people.  Here are a couple: 

 

First and foremost, identify all of the top performers that you don’t want to lose and ask your managers to have quality communication meetings with them at least twice a month.  Get as good a sense of their job satisfaction as you can.

 

Then, listen to the employee challenges and look for solutions.  Catch unsatisfied performers before they start looking for and applying for jobs.  Once they start doing that your chance of keeping them are much lower. 

 

If you take just these two steps you will be well on your way to retaining your top employees, and those retention efforts will help in keeping employees in general. 

 

Top Seven Reasons Employees Consider Leaving their Jobs

 

According to the “Employee and Retention Report” provided by the Achievers Workshop Institute in Feb. 2021, following are the top reasons that employees consider leaving their jobs:

• 36% - Better compensation and corporate benefits
• 25% - Better work life balance
• 16% - Lack of recognition for their work
• 8% - To find a better Corporate Culture
• 5% - Current company values don’t align with theirs
• 5% - Lack of strong relationship with peers
• 5% - Don’t know.

Companies will always be looking at compensation and corporate benefits to develop budgets designed to attract top talent and maintain your industry position.  But except for this #1 reason above, the rest of reasons are subjective.  And these make up almost two-thirds of the reasons employees consider leaving.  These will require an in-depth evaluation of where your company stands in comparison.

When you do, be as transparent and honest in your appraisal as you can.  After all, your best employees could be at risk.  Ask yourself some very elementary and candid questions about this 64%.  And remember, that because you are in upper management, make sure you put yourself in your employee shoes.  Example: thinking you have a state-of-the-art recognition system, doesn’t mean much to an employee who doesn’t feel recognized.