Future Of Work: How To Avoid Employee Turnover

Published on August 16, 2019 - By Cecilia Amador

• A new report from the IMA provides key findings and insights into how companies can recruit and retain top talent.
• Around one third of employee investment is going to waste due to disengagement, which is linked to five elements including poor company culture and lack of workplace flexibility.
• The report reveals that “today’s stronest leaders are people leaders” and good leadership goes a long way towards establishing transparency, trust, and satisfaction.

The IMA’s The Voice of the Employee Trend Report is an ongoing research project that provides organizations with insights into how they can recruit and retain top talent.

The report provides companies with valuable data and insights, especially considering that being an employer of choice is critical in today’s economy. 

The latest report found that there are 12 categories of benefits that employees value the most:

• Access to wellness resources
• Additional pay or recognition
• Ancillary insurance benefits
• Company culture
• Compensation
• Conveniences and perks
• Flexibility in work locations and schedules
• Health insurance
• Learning and development
• Paid time off
• Physical work area
• Retirement and savings plans

Offering attractive benefits and perks can help companies reduce turnover rates; however, the report notes that “employee turnover is unavoidable, and in some cases healthy”. On the bright side, there are ways to predict turnover in certain situations and strategies can be used to prevent its occurrence.

The report found that turnover risk is remarkably high at 30%, a number that should be concerning for companies. Yet contrary to the business adage that people leave their manager and not their company, the report found that the top five reasons people leave their companies are:

1. Compensation 

Turns out that compensation is still king and if employees feel that they’re not being paid proportionately to their years of experience or quality of work, they will leave — regardless of the benefits or perks you might offer.

2. Type of work they’re doing

If people feel that what they’re doing doesn’t contribute to the company’s overall goals, they’re likely to feel dissatisfied and therefore end up leaving the job. 

3. Company culture

Your company’s work environment goes a long way towards making employees feel happy, productive, and satisfied. It’s important to make sure that you have a healthy workplace environment, given that toxic work environments can increase turnover rates.

4. Lack of flexibility

With today’s technology, there’s no need for knowledge workers to be tied to their desks or the company’s headquarters. Giving employees flexibility can increase overall happiness and engagement levels as it can help them achieve and maintain work-life balance. 

5. Lack of learning and development opportunities

The world of work is changing rapidly, and companies need to provide employees with the tools and resources that can help them strengthen or develop new skills. Employees see this as an investment in their long-term growth, and not providing these opportunities can lead them to look for opportunities elsewhere. 

Addressing these issues will not only help reduce turnover rates, but can also improve overall business performance. According to IMA “it’s estimated that for every $10,000 in salary, a disengaged employee can cost their company up to $3,400 in lack of productivity,” meaning that 34% of employee investment is — to a certain extent — going to waste. 

To engage employees, companies need to have a strong internal communication strategy and they need to foster institutional pride. The Employee Trends Report found that employees prefer to receive important information via email; they also would like to be able to weigh in and share their input quarterly or monthly.

As for pride, IMA believes that it is related to whether employees believe their efforts are helping their organization reach its goals. “Employees need to understand how they are involved in an organization before they can feel proud about being a part of it.”

Beyond employees’ understanding of their involvement in an organization and how they contribute to its success, another element that can help reduce turnover rates is leadership. “The leadership skills and styles exhibited at the top of the organization can make or break an employee’s experience and job satisfaction,” IMA has found. According to the latest report, “today’s stronest leaders are people leaders” and being able to seriously consider employee input goes a long way towards establishing transparency, trust, and satisfaction. 

As the world of work continues to evolve, it’s becoming increasingly important that companies treat employees as customers; focusing especially on creating unique, value-driven workplace experiences.