Top 7 Reasons for High Employee Turnover-It’s Not What You Think!

by Linda Finkle

Perhaps one of the most alarming issues a company may face, whether big or small, is a high rate of employee turnover. Just imagine if you had to deal with staff resigning and leaving their responsibilities unmanned every single month!

Every time a person leaves, an important role in the business process falls short. These gaps can cause businesses huge losses in the long run. To prevent this alarming trend, you should have effective employee retention strategies in place.

Contrary to popular belief, employees do not leave their job solely because of a better offer; instead research shows employees resign for many other pressing reasons, such as:

• Being taken advantage of
• Feeling unappreciated
• Lack of growth

In most cases, money is just the most convenient excuse to leave a job. It’s far easier to resign because of a better offer, than to discuss a bureaucratic office that favors a select few.

To increase the rate of employee retention, you need to identify the exact reasons why people leave earlier than expected.

Consider the top 7 reasons for employee turnover before you create employee retention strategies for your business.

1. Organizational performance- Once staff perceive the business is facing economic difficulties, they are likely to jump ship to counter what they believe is an impending layoff.

2. Organizational culture- A lot of factors contribute to the overall culture in an organization-the leadership strength, work habits, staff commitment, and how employees value their roles, among others. All these contribute to job satisfaction. Once the organizational culture fails to capture the interest of the employee, then he or she is more likely to find a place that shares his or her values.

3. Job characteristics- People are naturally fuelled by challenge and the feeling of accomplishment, so once an employee’s role fails to be neither, they may feel the need to look elsewhere. Jobs that are repetitive, dangerous, and seemingly unimportant may soon drive people to resign. Your employee retention strategies must have provisions for employees to have the opportunity to take on bigger roles or even get additional training and be transferred to another department.

4. Unmet expectations – At the time of hiring, many employees lack knowledge of their role and tend to set expectations that are often unrealistic, as is often the case with companies that don’t have an onboarding process. Set parameters regarding job descriptions, career advancements, benefits, work culture, and ensure that a new hire knows what to expect the very first day of their job.

5. Demographics- There are also reasons of demographics and lifestyle characteristics that often trigger and contribute to an employee’s decision to quit. If most of the employees are in their mid-years, then a youthful employee may feel out of place, and soon decide to resign to find work where he will be with his peers.

6. Personal reasons– Because each staff is different from the next one, there will always be unique reasons for someone to leave.

7. Economy- There are always open opportunities for employees to earn a little bit extra, and people will most likely always welcome this.

These are the top reasons why employees resign, but don’t just assume that this applies to your situation. Find out for yourself! Exit interviews and employee survey are important tools in creating effective employee retention strategies, so use it to your advantage.