According to studies, 40% of employees leave almost right after they start a new job, and an additional 10% to 20% of new hires leave an organization within their first year of employment. That means nearly 50% to 60% of employees will leave an organization within their first year of employment.
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Overall, more recent research indicates that employers should be extremely concerned with retaining their employees within those employees’ first year of employment if they want to avoid high costs associated with a high rate of employee attrition.
If you want to ensure your new employees stay and succeed during their first year at your organization, here are four things you’ll want to do.
1. Implement Comprehensive Onboarding Programs That Last at Least 1 Year
As we’ve previously reported, onboarding programs that last at least 1 year can increase employee retention rates by as much as 25% when they’re compared with onboarding programs that don’t last at least a year. Longer onboarding programs also lead to more productive and engaged employees and save your organization money.
2. Employ a People-Centric Approach
One Randstad survey revealed that nearly 60% of employees quit working for an organization because they believe that the organization cares more about profits than people. Luckily, research indicates that organizations with people-centric workplaces are more profitable and that they have more engaged employees who stay long term.
Consider developing a more transparent company culture, personalizing your L&D and training programs, offering more comprehensive wellness benefits, and advancing a more inclusive workplace if you’re interested in implementing more people-centric initiatives.
For more insight, read “Building and Endorsing a People-Centric Workplace.”
3. Develop Career Maps
The same Randstad survey found that roughly 58% of employees leave an employer because they want to pursue more challenging opportunities that will allow them to grow their careers. And around 69% of respondents said they’d be more satisfied with their jobs if their employers better utilized their skills and abilities.
So, if you want your employees to stay long term, develop career maps for them on day 1. Career maps exist to personalize each employee’s future at your organization. They also focus on each employee’s strengths and interests and prevent employees from getting bored at work.
4. Invest in High-Quality Leadership Development
According to research, three out of four employees report that their bosses are the worst and most stressful part of their jobs. As Randstad found, 60% of employees
leave or consider leaving their jobs when they don’t like their direct supervisors.
To prevent newer employees from leaving too soon due to poor managers and leaders, invest in high-quality leadership development training programs so that new hires will have leaders they want to work for and with.
Follow the four tips above if you want to ensure your new employees succeed during their first year of employment at your organization. Also, be sure to review “6 Best Practices for an Effective Onboarding Program.”