While The Great Resignation has thrust the problem of employee-turnover into the spotlight recently, it turns out that it’s not actually a new challenge. It’s been a long, long time since the norm was individuals working the breadth of their careers for one company and retiring with a pension. In fact, job changes have been quite common for decades, even among baby boomers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Individuals born from 1957 to 1964 held an average of 12.4 jobs from the ages of 18 to 54.” While you might expect the bulk of these job changes to occur in the early part of these individuals’ lives before entering their careers, you might be surprised to learn that 6.8 of those 12.4 jobs happened after the age of 24. This was true even of those who earned college degrees, as “men with a bachelor’s degree or higher held 11.9 jobs […] while women with a bachelor’s degree held 13.1 jobs” by age 54.
—That’s not to say that this trend hasn’t magnified in recent decades. Gallup reported that “21% of millennials say they’ve changed jobs within the past year, which is more than three times the number of non-millennials who report the same.” (Note that this report is from 2018, two years before the pandemic turned everything upside-down.) So, while the problem isn’t new, it was worsening even before The Great Resignation. But why? According to that same Gallup report, “only 29% of millennials are engaged at work, meaning only about three in 10 are emotionally and behaviorally connected to their job and company.”
As zoomers enter the workforce in greater numbers (the oldest of Gen-Z are in their mid–20s now), the jury is still out on how much job hopping they’ll do compared to other generations. Some armchair psychologists predict that zoomers will seek stability more than anything else, as their young lives have already seen 9/11, the Great Recession, and the COVID–19 pandemic, all disruptive events to the say the least. Back in 2017, the Society for Human Resource Management noted that a staggering “Sixty-seven percent of Gen Z indicate their top concern is being able to afford college.” (Since then, the economy has been through the ringer due to the pandemic, so desiring stability makes sense!)
Either way, Gallup estimated that employee turnover costs U.S. businesses a mind-boggling trillion dollars in 2017. That year, the “overall turnover rate in the U.S. […] was 26.3% based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Gallup further estimated, “The cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary,” which they admitted was “a conservative estimate.” But it’s more than the investment cost that should concern a business: “Losing your best people means losing your reliable winners, your constant innovators and your most effective problem solvers.” Worse still, “it breaks down team morale.”
But worst of all, “Fifty-two percent of voluntarily exiting employees said their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job.”
Employee retention is tough in any climate, and tougher still as we are about to enter year-three of “the new normal.” Businesses can’t afford to let The Great Resignation, pressures of the pandemic, or complacency cost them their best employees. And the best way to keep your people is through thoughtful and meaningful employee fulfillment. Stay tuned; we’ll tackle that topic in next week’s blog.
In the meantime, if you want to explore what your business could be doing to improve its relationship with your employees, its customers, and more, then don’t hesitate to reach out to us at The Brandt Group. We’re here to equip you with powerful tools like onsite and over-the-phone mystery shopping, employee and customer feedback surveys, as well as staff training and leadership development. Let’s avoid complacency together and stand up against the trend of turnover to deliver a great environment for both our staff and our customers.
