According to independent research conducted by an external exit interview organisation, the real reason that one in five employees resign is because of their manager.
Perhaps one of the main benefits of having an external organisation interview outgoing staff is that employees are more likely to give truly honest answers to an impartial third party. Collecting the information from these genuine answers can allow employers to more precisely identify the main areas that are driving the turnover of staff in their business. Once this information is correctly identified employers can better allocate their resources in an attempt to address these issues and consequently reduce their staff turnover rates.
In most cases, it can be found that staff members who are internally interviewed on their reasons for leaving generally give what are considered the commonly ‘acceptable’ responses. It is thought that this is because they are concerned about how their comments and feedback will be received by their employer and do not necessarily want to destroy any relationships that have been established during the course of their employment.
In internally conducted interviews the most common, and ‘acceptable’, reasons that are given include moving to a more senior position elsewhere, heading overseas or family circumstances.
With national staff turnover currently at a rate of 18%, Australian businesses are losing $100 billion annually on lost productivity, training and recruitment.
Most employers underestimate the amount of control that they have over their individual business’ staff turnover rates. According to the statistics, almost half of all staff members that leave their jobs say that they could have been convinced to stay. Interestingly, in two thirds of cases employers have made no attempt to change their minds. This one simple action could potentially save business owners 66% of their employees, as well as countless amounts of money, time, productivity and unnecessary stress.
A large number of employers readily assume that the main reason their staff move on is the lure of larger salaries. It would seem that this is not the case, with only 14% of employees stating pay rates as a major influencing factor on their decision to leave.
It has been found that the most commons reasons that employees leave their jobs are:
- Little or no opportunity for career advancement
- A lack of interest in the actual day to day work that is required
- The current job role does not challenge the individual
- Poor leadership and management relationships
- The desire to pursue a new/different career
Managers play such an instrumental role in shaping each employee’s career and furthering their skills base. Because of this, and in light of the relatively high national staff turnover rate, it is extremely important for staff retention purposes that managers are constantly, and correctly, addressing the above areas for each individual staff member.
For more information on any employment related issues from recruitment and retention to payroll and contracts contact the team at The Quinn Group by calling 1300 QUINNS or click here to submit an online enquiry.
