Is long-term employee retention a losing battle?

[Davidvictorson]

Reading this article, I couldn't help but wonder about a lot of things that have gone wrong and is going wrong in companies. Some of these companies are know that employees leaving are a problem and are making efforts to fix it while other who know, ,amy have chosen to ignore it.
Below are some important points highlighted in the article.

According to the report, more than 6.5 million people (20% of the U.K. workforce) are expected to quit their job in the next 12 months, according to estimates from the Charted Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which published the data in June after surveying more than 6,000 workers. That’s up from 2021, when 16% of the U.K. workforce said they plan to quit within a year, according to the CIPD. Meanwhile, in March Microsoft’s global Work Trend Index found that 52% of Gen Zers and Millennials — the two generations that represent the vast majority of the workforce — were likely to consider changing jobs within the following year.

Data do not lie. If these companies do not want to keep losing this battle they have to start caring about their employees. They have to treat their employees great. In this day and age companies need to start to try to be human and actually care about what their employees care about or at least putting it on the same pedestal with the degree at which the company cares about making profit. We need new generational leaders who are high on emotional intelligence.

What do you think? Are companies losing the battle for long term employee retention?

[jackg]

I think they're losing the battle because they don't understand what they're actually doing. I've seen a lot of arrogant employers on social media that say it might not be worth hiring people who change jobs a lot (the example given being 8 in 5 years, which might be excessive or not depending on the industry - someone working for startups might expect to go through 10-80 in that same time, someone working for a fairly good employer and receiving constant and consistent pay rises and promotions will probably only change jobs once in that time: if at all). If you don't expect to pay your employees well and are in a market sector in high demand (more jobs than qualified people), expect them to leave.

I've known companies lose good employees because they won't offer decent pay rises, some office and hybrid jobs don't offer higher pay either to cover the travel expenses - so why wouldn't you work from home if you could? (a 40 minute journey is over £150 in fuel a month - assuming 40 mpg).

A lot of companies retain employees by adding personal touches and ensuring people are well compensated and know they're needed in companies. I know people who have worked for a company for 10-40 years though and I couldn't imagine doing that, it might also look bad too if you're not switching employers (you only know how to do one job then).

[Queentoshi]

What do you think? Are companies losing the battle for long term employee retention?

Some companies do well in terms of taking care of their employees but some other companies really need to just improve, create a good working environment for the employees and provide incentives to keep them encouraged. The general mindset some people have while working for a company where they don't treat their employees well is to just gather enough money to go set up a business for themselves. Even with the current economy some people have calculated that setting up a business will be more beneficial seeing that these companies they've been working for a long time have refused reviewing their salary even with the rising cost of living, that is bad.

[Gyfts]

By caring, they're going to have to start paying employees more. I haven't dug down into the reasoning of employees leaving, but I can only assume it's compensation related. Wages aren't keeping up with inflation in most countries so it would make sense why people would leave their job for more lucrative opportunities. Companies will either churn through employees or be forced to pay a wage that's competitive.

I've known companies lose good employees because they won't offer decent pay rises, some office and hybrid jobs don't offer higher pay either to cover the travel expenses - so why wouldn't you work from home if you could? (a 40 minute journey is over £150 in fuel a month - assuming 40 mpg).

That's a good point. Inflation being one metric, the fuel costs associated with commute (along with rising fuel costs) probably play a huge role too. Many companies are asking workers to return back to the office, I didn't consider that.

[Hydrogen]

I think the stage is being set for people to become more motivated to learn about economics, business and finance.

Failing to comprehend basic fundamentals of business makes workers powerless in this world. To earn their fair share and maintain a stable working environment, workers must understand what is happening in order to make the right choices and support the right things. Unfortunately, in many cases workers do not recognize the trends and precedents in play. Which leads to them supporting the wrong people and things.

As recession sets in and standards of living decline. It could provide people with incentive to acquire knowledge. Prior to 2020 there was no need for people to care about business or finance. There was no motivation to learn.

Now that people are being directly affected by it, their attitude and mentality could shift. They could suddenly start to care about and appreciate many of the things they took for granted.

I think we're already observing this to a degree. People used to be completely apathetic and lackidaisical on the topic of politics. Suddenly everyone cares about politics, as it is directly impacting their lives. The same precedent could apply to business and finance.

[Techkoy407]

many companies that from the past until now still have not changed the rules and employees who are not paid attention to.

The trend of mass labor resignations occurred in several countries. In fact, a survey released by a professional company, Robert Walters, noted that 77% of professional workers in Indonesia are considering self-employment or resigning.

those who haven't quit, haven't found a new place to work.

so you can be sure the company will continue to decline if the quality and treatment of employees has not been changed.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Two things come to mind immediately.  One is that I don't put much stock in polls like the one in this article.  Those poll participants may say they're considering changing jobs or considering doing anything, but that doesn't mean they're going to.

The second thing is that the millenials (and maybe the Gen Z'ers, I'm not exactly sure where the cutoff is) are bringing a lot of bullshit into the world in the name of changing everything for the sake of just changing everything.  Ten years ago there were only two genders, and that was an indisputable fact.  Even if you're a transsexual, you're still only going to identify as male or female.  But I guess I missed the article in Nature that a bunch of new human genders have been discovered recently.  It's fucking disgusting

But that's a rant about what I'm most annoyed about.  As far as the question of whether employment, long-term or not, is fading fast is an absurd one.  What happens if all these young people stop working?  Somebody is going to have to trade their labor for money to support them.  My guess is that they're going to have to grow up very fast once they figure out that this attitude toward the job market is untenable.

[so98nn]

. . . And does the employee know what are they actually doing? Most of the time they switch because they want to have higher salaries in very less time and also above their skill sets. Many of them try to do “moonlight” jobs and thus end up disturbed work environment into both companies for which they are working.

This reduces the work quality and many times employer end up paying higher money than is needed. We can not blame it to the employer all the time just because they are sitting up there and we think they won’t suffer from recession or losses.

They do actually, if work quality goes down with the time it could happen that they will loose their contracts too and it’s the vital source from where our salaries and benefits come to us.

That’s cyclic economy, it comes around and goes around.

I am not saying it’s totally employers or employees fault, what I am saying is it’s a balanced workout. If it is maintained then there is no need to lay off the employee.

[Zaguru12]

The main reason why employees leave companies can be on lack of incentives or rather lack of growth. Some of these companies are too rigid to the extent that its workers have less time to spend with family or even time for themselves. Some work six days in a week at at least 10hours daily. Another thing that prompts some workers to seek greener pasture else might be because they are not comfortable with shifts allocated to them, lack of growth within the company like raising in ranks easily like government owned work places. It could also be due to fear, some companies scare there workers with sack and they feel threatened so when better jobs opportunities come they turn to jump on it. Some of this companies also don't have retirement plans like pensions and workers tend to look for pensionable jobs since its hard to save for some during their active working days. Irregular transfers of employees by employers can effect the switching of jobs or people seeking to be independent.

Concerning millenials they tend to give up on eventually everything, they can't withstand even minimal pressures older generations face. There career impatience or overall impatience leads them to been layoff from works or even leave them selves. Although it's a great thing some things are changing in this century like speaking up when there is pressure but dedication, respect towards work shouldn't change

[doomloop]

What do you think? Are companies losing the battle for long term employee retention?

Some companies do well in terms of taking care of their employees but some other companies really need to just improve, create a good working environment for the employees and provide incentives to keep them encouraged. The general mindset some people have while working for a company where they don't treat their employees well is to just gather enough money to go set up a business for themselves. Even with the current economy some people have calculated that setting up a business will be more beneficial seeing that these companies they've been working for a long time have refused reviewing their salary even with the rising cost of living, that is bad.

Some companies are just small to not afford those things you said while there are companies who are already huge but their management is not that good enough. I don't think they will ever change and they don't really care if their employees leave because they know that they can still get an immediate replacement.

You know our world now, jobs are very limited and then many people are looking for work only to survive so they are not that choosy. Saving up money is hard if you're stuck in a low paying job and setting up your own business is also not easy. There is no guarantee that they will succeed so they better think twice about quitting their jobs.

[Smartprofit]

By caring, they're going to have to start paying employees more. I haven't dug down into the reasoning of employees leaving, but I can only assume it's compensation related. Wages aren't keeping up with inflation in most countries so it would make sense why people would leave their job for more lucrative opportunities. Companies will either churn through employees or be forced to pay a wage that's competitive.

I've known companies lose good employees because they won't offer decent pay rises, some office and hybrid jobs don't offer higher pay either to cover the travel expenses - so why wouldn't you work from home if you could? (a 40 minute journey is over £150 in fuel a month - assuming 40 mpg).

That's a good point. Inflation being one metric, the fuel costs associated with commute (along with rising fuel costs) probably play a huge role too. Many companies are asking workers to return back to the office, I didn't consider that.

High wages are not the only motivation for employees. 

The most important thing in work is a high income and structured free time.  For example, a company may offer its employees to work remotely (without having to come to the office).  This will save at least 3 hours on the road from home to office (and back - from office to home). 

And this condition can be very attractive and important for the employee.  Also, the employer can offer employees training and career growth. 

An important point is the psychological atmosphere in the company - it allows you to minimize stress, and therefore maintain health.

[avikz]

Long term? What does that mean?

Long term is a subjective matter! In the government job where you will get pension, long term really means your entire career. But in a private company where there is not port retirement benefits, even 5 years can be considered long term. For a private sector employee, it is advisable to keep on switching jobs every 4-5 years until they turn 45. otherwise the company will take you for granted and you will never be able to experience significant financial growth.

Let's be very honest! We all work for money! Awards and accolades might motivate you for some time, but at the end of the day, it's all about money. So if someone is getting a better pay, it makes sense to release that employee unless he/she is holding a key position. Everyone else is very easily replaceable! If a company doesn't want to loose talents, they should beat the inflation effectively and provide a pay revision whenever required. otherwise, it will always remain as a loosing battle only!

[Yamifoud]

Some people are preferred to stay long from their job depending on the nature of their work and of course, the behavior of their co-workers and company benefits, especially for government employees. But what they have missed is the chance to start their own business due to their mind is already focused on doing their job neglecting more opportunities when making their own business. Might they are thinking about the risk because having a job we found it secured and have a monthly income? However, if we are more educated about finance, we can see that this is not the best shot if we wanted to improve our living as rich people are in business, not an employee.

[South Park]

snip

Data do not lie. If these companies do not want to keep losing this battle they have to start caring about their employees. They have to treat their employees great. In this day and age companies need to start to try to be human and actually care about what their employees care about or at least putting it on the same pedestal with the degree at which the company cares about making profit. We need new generational leaders who are high on emotional intelligence.

What do you think? Are companies losing the battle for long term employee retention?

There was a time in which you expected to work for the same company for 30 or 40 years, have a big retirement party and go into the sunset with a good retirement fund, but those days are over and companies are not above firing employees which have been part of the company for a long time, so workers have learned that the companies do not have their back and as such they are always looking for a better job, and even if companies began changing their attitude towards their employees it will take a generation before this behavior changes, and this is assuming companies care enough about this to do something about it, which I doubt.

[Zlantann]

many companies that from the past until now still have not changed the rules and employees who are not paid attention to.

The trend of mass labor resignations occurred in several countries. In fact, a survey released by a professional company, Robert Walters, noted that 77% of professional workers in Indonesia are considering self-employment or resigning.

those who haven't quit, haven't found a new place to work.

so you can be sure the company will continue to decline if the quality and treatment of employees has not been changed.

High pay is one of the motivators of of workers but some employees need more than just money to stay in a firm.
Most firms still treat workers like machines without considering their career and emotional needs. Some companies pay less attention to training and development of their staff because they feel that they might leave the company after the firm have invested much on them. But they fail to understand that workers tend to hate monotonous jobs that lacks the opportunity for workers to face new challenges and become creative.

Some workers are also fed up with employers who care less about their informal life. When an employer mandates a worker that has a sick child to still come to work, it shows that their focus is only to get the best out of the staff and nothing more. Most people now are considering self employment  or online jobs that would give them the opportunity to combine both work and family responsibilities. And the lock-down experience caused by Covid-19 have made this workers believe that working from home is very possible.    

[KennyR]

Majority of the people stay on the same company for a long with plans of switching to another company. Whenever the employee gets with plans of leaving the company, he'll be given with hike in the salary. This won't be happening with every employee, because the company will have certain employees need and those were given consideration.

As most of the users mentioned, many corporate companies don't respect it's employees. They're with an attitude, that we'll give as per our wish. People stick to it thinking the financial problems that arise when we stand jobless.

[Gozie51]

They say there is nothing new under the sun. I will hardly believe that there is a set of workers that will go under the poll and not give the response that they are quitting but quitting to go and do what? This is the 1 billion dollar question. Of course they will say that put they ain't going to quit to go lazy at home washing their wives undies or babysitting , no they are not neither planning to do that. They only want to change job and for the reason of higher salary, this is normal. People are leaving old jobs to find new one and we need to expect more of this in the coming year with a very high rate if the current inflation rate continues unabated.

[Swordsoffreedom]

I know everyone who goes to work wants to be treated fairly and wants a good salary. But it's not easy to run a company that pleases everyone, some people will be happy and some people will be unhappy. All you mentioned is just random survey and it hasn't happened yet, in my opinion switching jobs is not an easy thing for many people. If what you say will happen then I wonder what those people will do after leaving and which company will be willing to pay them higher salary while the company doesn't know their qualifications yet. I also have many friends who want to quit because the work is too stressful, the salary is poor… but the story goes on year after year and they are still the same, they are still working hard and no one quit.

[el kaka22]

It is not something they can easily fix, because while one tries to fix it, the other does the same as well and it doesn't get fixed. Like let’s say you start to pay more, then the other company will pay more too, and that employee will end up leaving anyway. You could give benefits, good hours, less stress, but if you do that then the other companies too.

Plus, if you keep on trying to make your workers happy constantly, then it would also create a price situation and products will cost more, and you will not be preferred, which would cause a trouble in competition. So, this is not a problem that can be fixed, just look to get more new workers, focus on getting better at finding new workers, instead of keeping old ones, because you can't.

[hyudien]

Data do not lie. If these companies do not want to keep losing this battle they have to start caring about their employees. They have to treat their employees great. In this day and age companies need to start to try to be human and actually care about what their employees care about or at least putting it on the same pedestal with the degree at which the company cares about making profit. We need new generational leaders who are high on emotional intelligence.

What do you think? Are companies losing the battle for long term employee retention?

In cases like this, in almost all countries, regarding employees who now have an uncertain fate, the role of the company must also be more empathetic for the future sustainability of employees and the company. If the output of the employee at the end of his tenure has a negative assessment of the company, this automatically becomes a concern that what the company produces is worth a minus. The company's concern for employees is very important because then workers will feel cared for and work motivation will increase. However, the company also has a profit achievement target that must be high and the company stands on absolute written rules (structured and his laws). There needs to be a correlation between employees and the same company dedicated to the same goal.