Finding the right employee can be extremely difficult, particularly in an economy with a historically low unemployment rate, when potential employees can often pick and choose between a number of labor-starved employers. Not only is it difficult—it’s expensive.
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The Costs of Making the Wrong Hiring Choice
HROnboard discusses the costs of the process and breaks down the main areas of expenditure:
- Offer creation
- Sending out paperwork
- Time spent processing paperwork
- Materials cost for welcome packets and contracts
- Administration time
There are obvious benefits in taking steps to ensure that the right people are hiring—and that they’re onboarded effectively to avoid unnecessary turnover.
Unfortunately, many employees leave a company shortly after taking the job, meaning the company has to go through the hiring process all over again, all while the position remains effectively vacant, because the departing employee never got up to speed.
So, how bad is the problem? “If you’ve just hired 10 new employees, chances are that three of them will quit within the next 90 days, according to a new survey from Jobvite, who are recruiting software providers,” says Stephanie Vozza in an article for Fast Company. Vozza lists some of the reasons employees in the survey noted for leaving so quickly. Let’s take a look at the top responses.
The Day-to-Day Role Wasn’t What They Expected—43%
Many employees have an expectation of the job they’ll be doing, but those expectations don’t pan out. They may stick it out for a few weeks to see if things change once they get their bearings, but at some point, they decide to leave for the kind of job they really want.
An Incident or Bad Experience Drove Them Away—34%
Whether it’s an argument with a coworker, an unpleasant experience with a boss, or some other incident, a specific negative situation can be enough to prompt an employee to leave, either out of principle or for fear of more of the same in the future.
Didn’t Like the Company Culture—32%
We spend a lot of our waking lives at work. If employees don’t feel like they fit in with, or just don’t like, the company culture, they may simply look for a place that is more their style.
Turnover—and the resulting need for constant recruitment—is expensive, as well as disruptive to the operation of a business. We’ve discussed some of the top reasons employees leave a company in the first 90 days. In a follow-up post, we’ll look at some tips to help prevent this kind of short-term turnover.