Employee Retention Statistics That Will Make You Rethink The Way You Hire

Companies invest tremendously into the recruiting, hiring and training processes to bring new talent onboard. Great amounts of time and thought and effort go into getting employees from their newly hired status to become fully productive staff members. Employee retention, therefore, is a critical concept and when it comes to looking at hard facts regarding this issue, the numbers are staggering. In reviewing employee retention statistics, the following facts stand out.

Employee Retention Statistics That Stand Out

• Around 1/3 of employees will quit within the first 6 months of a new job, and even more impressively, that same percentage knew within the first WEEK of a job whether they would be with the company long-term. At a leadership level, 1/3 of the leaders at companies with over 100 employees are actively pursuing employment elsewhere.
• About 1/3 of employers anticipate their employees jumping ship.
• A slightly higher percentage (35%) of employees feel that if they do not get a pay raise within 12 months, they will begin making plans to leave.
• Employees that are referred to a company have slightly better statistics, with about 45% lasting at least two years.
• Remote employees are half or 50% as likely to leave a job.
• Almost 75% of companies are addressing employee retention approaches by reengineering their onboarding processes for new hires.
• Almost 80% of corporate leaders view employee retention as a critical issue.

So given these realities, what can employers do to make sure they have not only selected their hires carefully but then keep them long-term? Here are a few tips for employee retention.

Tips for Employee Retention

1. Promote Employee Referral Programs: As the statistics demonstrate, employees who are referred in are already more invested in the company, because they have friends or others who they know in place.
2. Incorporate Long-term Vision and Plans: Incorporate long-term vision and plans into onboarding practices. This gives employees a similar long-term viewpoint on how and where they fit in to the company’s goals.
3. Carefully Define Milestones: Carefully define milestones, goals and achievable objectives for new employees in their first months and year. Working towards something concrete and then achieving it gives people a sense of accomplishment.
4. Reward Employees: Even if the company can only make miniscule adjustments in salary and/or benefits, make them. Employees who feel they and their efforts are valued are far more likely to stay.
5. Choose Carefully: In selecting new hires, make sure you get a “big picture” of who they are. Digital interviewing technologies can help you see the candidates in a more holistic manner.

About The Author

Esteban Gomez is a marketing consultant with interviewstream. He loves learning and has a passion for traveling, having visited many countries including China, Colombia, Italy, and Peru.