Are You Winning Your Workers Over?

It used to be that employers had the proverbial “upper hand” when it came to managing their employees. That meant that as an employer you could pick and choose who to hire and fire, and when, and for what reason(s). Today it seems that the tables have turned somewhat, redistributing some (if not a lot) of the leverage to employees, who seemingly job-hop at will. They do so for any number of reasons—the shop is too loud or too hot, the work too strenuous, or management doesn’t seem to care about their employees’ career advancement opportunities or work-life balance.

Repeatedly I hear how human-resource managers work their butts off to recruit, hire and onboard new workers, only to have them quickly become discouraged and quit after just a short time on the job. This revolving-door scenario surely costs companies thousands upon thousands of dollars in wasted time and training resources.

A Deloitte survey finds that that it takes as long as six months to get new employees at U.S. companies working reasonably proficiently, 18 months until they are integrated into the culture of an organization, and 24 months before they really know the strategy and the business they have joined. Yet, one-third of new employees quit after about six months on the job. That premature turnover means that far too many workers quit before they’re solidly contributing to an employer’s success, leaving those behind to pick up the pieces.

What causes premature turnover? A 2022 survey conducted by HR-software provider WorkStep (and referenced in an article recently posted to our website, “Winning the Workers: What It Takes for Manufacturers to Compete in Today's Tight Labor Market”) calls out these top five reasons why workers quit their jobs:

1. Little opportunity for promotion, skill advancement or career progression.
2. (Relatively) low pay, as competing companies continue to offer high wages and sign-on bonuses. 
3. Inaccurate job descriptions, as workers say that job listings fail to match actual day-to-day tasks.
4. Poor onboarding, with employees citing rushed training procedures that leave them feeling underprepared.
5. No access to mentorship from management.