Purchase, N.Y. — Nov. 6
Twice as many employees with fewer than two years of service voluntarily leave an organization, as do those with more than two years of tenure, according to a study of worker attrition rates by Sirota Survey Intelligence, specialists in attitude research.
Employees with fewer than two years of service voluntarily leave at an average rate of about 20 percent per year, while those with more than two years tenure quit at an average rate of about 10 percent per year, according to the study of nearly 47,000 employees.
Moreover, the data show that of all those who voluntarily leave within any given year, almost 60 percent have less than two years' tenure.
Sirota Survey Intelligence examined and linked data on employees’ attitudes from 2005 and 2004 employee attitude surveys to actual turnover that occurred in the next year, based on company-supplied data.
“To improve overall employee retention rates, companies should pay closer attention to retaining workers with less than two years’ experience in their jobs,” said Douglas Klein, president of Sirota Survey Intelligence. “Many leaders fail to recognize that new employees are enthusiastic about staring a job and that by their actions, management destroys this enthusiasm.
“Our research shows a measurable decline in employees’ morale after they have been working for an organization for six months, and this deterioration worsens as they continue to evaluate what they expected against what they are receiving. Best-in-class companies do not create this decline in morale as seen in the overall trend.”
David Sirota, chairman emeritus of Sirota Survey Intelligence and co-author of “The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit By Giving Workers What They Want,” agrees.
“During the first two years on the job, employees are confirming that their actual jobs meet their expectations, as well as those that their employers led them to believe during the recruitment process,” Sirota said. “Since management’s attitudes and behaviors can enhance employee retention, companies should invest in improving managers’ leadership skills and creating an environment where employees feel genuinely valued by their employers.”
Companies can improve the retention of newer employees by 10 percent to 13 percent by adopting more effective management policies and practices, according to analyses based on the study. Key actions should include:
“Companies can save considerable sums of money by improving the retention of newer employees,” Sirota said. “It is commonly estimated that it costs more than one and a half times the salary of a departing employee to replace him or her when factoring in recruitment and training costs and lost productivity.”
