J. Kent's Blog - Articles for Employers and Job Seekers

Why Employees Are Leaving (And How to Retain Your Employees)

Posted by: Emma Berdanier on August 7th, 2019

It’s no secret that employees leave the companies they work for, whether they’ve been working there for three years or just two weeks. Finding ways to retain employees is always on employers’ minds, but a clear answer is rarely given. Employee turnover is a constant in the job market, and as of 2018 it’s at the highest rate it’s been at in 10 years. This increase in turnover is a detriment to employers, as it’s expensive to continue replacing employees and training new hires to do work you already had someone else trained to do.

While employees leave for a myriad of reasons, these reasons aren’t always the ones you’d expect. Not everyone leaves for a bigger salary, in fact, many don’t. Below is a list of reasons why employees are leaving, and how you can change your office environment and work culture to retain these employees for the long run.

Why They Leave (And You Don’t Retain Them)

How They Choose a New Employer

Summary

As you can see from this data, employees don’t always leave for a higher salary. Many employees want changes in their jobs that will give them increased satisfaction, rather than an increase in pay. This increase in satisfaction typically comes from two sources: the workplace culture and the company’s mission. Having a mission that aligns with your employees’ values is a strong way of retaining those employees and attracting new ones.

This is especially true of Millennials and Gen X employees, who tend to choose a new job based on the opportunity to do meaningful work that aligns with their values far more often than Baby Boomers do. Baby Boomers are still of the mindset of choosing work based on salary alone, but the trend among younger employees stands strong – employees want to do meaningful work.

How to Retain Employees

So, what can you do to ensure a high rate of employee retention when salary isn’t always the leading factor in someone leaving their role? There are quite a few options, many of which involve enacting a shift in your workplace culture to better cater to your employees’ desires.


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