Employers are not too proud to admit it: They have an employee retention problem. But the good news is they’re reporting there are tactics and programs working to keep top employees on board — and the majority don’t involve bumping up employees’ pay.
Thanks to improvements in the job market, employee retention is rapidly becoming a hot button issue for employers.
In fact, 65% of organizations report retaining key talent has become a major concern recently, a stat WorldatWork published in its new report Retention of Key Talent and the Role of Rewards for which the company surveyed 526 mid- to senior-level rewards professionals.
Perhaps even more troubling: Only 51% of respondents were confident their organization could retain key talent if the job market continued to improve.
Why employees quit
Rewards professionals were asked to rate the reasons employees quit on a 1 to 5 scale (with 1 representing “strongly disagree” and 5 representing “strongly agree”).
The top 10 reasons employees leave:
- To get more pay elsewhere (average score was 3.13)
- Lacked promotional opportunities (2.87)
- Feelings pay was unfair when compared to others outside the organization (2.74)
- Feelings pay was unfair compared to their work contributions (2.65)
- Dissatisfaction with work responsibilities (2.65)
- Workloads that were too heavy (2.62)
- Dissatisfaction with work/life balance (2.61)
- Conflicts/problems with supervisor (2.56)
- Lack of training and developmental opportunities (2.49), and
- Inadequate use of their abilities (2.49).
What’s working to retain employees
Rewards professionals were also asked to rate the most effective methods used to retain employees on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 representing “ineffective” and 5 representing “very effective”).
The top 10 tactics and programs that work to retain employees:
- Pay employees above the labor market (2.94)
- Provide more incentive/bonus opportunities (2.91)
- Let key employees know they’re essential to the business (2.90)
- Create flextime/telecommuting opportunities (2.86)
- Create a succession plan to replace key individuals (2.84)
- Discuss with key employees their future opportunities within the organization (2.82)
- Provide cash bonuses for retaining key employees (2.81)
- Provide meaningful and enriching job designs for key employees (2.77)
- Provide key employees with stock options/equity awards (2.77), and
- Create an extensive benefit package (2.75).
Some of the least effective employee retention methods:
- Providing tuition reimbursement and other educational opportunities (2.56)
- Monitoring employee satisfaction with pay and work duties (2.60), and
- Providing mentors for key employees (2.66).
