If you’re taking a look into employee retention rates in the United States, it is easy to see that there is a problem. Any given executive HR search firms providing executive search consultant services will attest to this, as these executive search consultant services have grown more and more popular with the passage of time. And such executive search consultant services have grown more popular out of necessity, as executive search consultant services are now, in many spaces, very much needed in order to fill the positions that are all too frequently being left.
And it’s not just on the word of those working for executive search consultant services and as human resources recruiters and the like. The cold, hard data on the subject also supports the worrying problem of employee retention rates in fields of work all throughout the country. As a matter of fact, the June of 2015 alone saw well over two and a half million people voluntarily leave their jobs, marking an increase in such rates of more than one quarter from just the year prior. And in the number of years that have elapsed since that June of 2015, the problem of employee retention has only become more pronounced, seen perhaps most clearly in the working habits of the Millennial generation.
After all, Millennials in the workforce (and they now make up a sizable part of it, to say the least) have earned the moniker of the “job hopping” generation. This title is not without truth, given the fact that up to 60% of all such people in the working world have stated that they would quickly leave their current job, should a better one present itself too them. However, this behavior is merely a symptom of a much larger problem and there is no doubt about it that the blame for such poor employee retention rates should not be placed on Millennial employees themselves.
For one thing, many people who provide executive search consultant services through various outplacement consulting firms will be able to attest to the fact that many workplaces simply do not provide enough support and encouragement for their various levels of employees. After all, the data that has been gathered on the subject more than backs up this claim. This data has found that up to 80% of all employees – more than three quarters of them, the overwhelming majority – have stated that they feel less than fully encouraged to do their best work by their superiors. A lack of support is also noted. Such things, as one might have already guessed, can certainly make it more than difficult to feel motivated by any one particular workplace.
Of course, there are steps that can be taken to rectify such a problem. For one thing, even a basic employee recognition program can go a long way towards increasing overall employee happiness. As a matter of fact, as many as 86% of all companies and places of work that have instituted such programs have stated that this was the case for them once the program had time to get off the ground and really into the swing of things. And once employee happiness has significantly increased, overall employee productivity and even work quality are likely to see increases as well. At the end of the day, therefore, it is quite clear to see that employee recognition programs are really quite important indeed – far more important, even, than many people might consider them at first pass.
Improving overall diversity in working spaces is also something that can make a considerable positive change in just about any corner of the working world. Yet again, the data is here to back up this claim. After all, improving gender diversity in the workplace can actually mean that a workplace can beat out other workplaces (that are less diverse) by as much as a full 15%. In addition to this, ethnic diversity is even more powerful for such matters, increasing that 15% to a 35%. Therefore, diversity is something that should be strongly looked at when it comes to improving the overall happiness and work quality of employees within it, no matter the industry.
