It’s time to get away from the “it’s you, not me” mindset.
How are you – as a leader and as a company – contributing to your employee turnover? There is plenty that employers can do proactively to reduce potential turnover, yet many prefer to blame the new hires who “weren’t the right fit” instead of looking within the organization to find what could be done better.
But before you can even create actionable steps to improve retention, you first need to figure out exactly why employees are leaving your organization. And here’s a tip; WHEN they leave can offer valuable clues as to WHY they left.
According to data from WeCare Connect, the nation’s leading provider of employee surveys for the senior care industry, the overall average length of employment for senior care staff is 4.3 years. But what are the reasons that staff might leave sooner than that average? Interestingly, the reasons staff gave for leaving were completely different depending on their length of tenure.
Below are a few of the common stages when employees depart from an employer – and the reasons we’ve found as to why they make that decision.
Employee left the candidate pool
When a candidate leaves this early in the process, it usually means: They simply got a faster offer and wanted to start quickly. Or, your company’s reputation leaves something to be desired. Or, the candidate didn’t like what they saw during the interview process, be it the people they met or the actual process of interviewing.
Employee left in the first week
Being given unrealistic expectations is one of the biggest reasons why an employee would leave after just a week working for your company. Perhaps the job description didn’t match the work they were doing in their first days on the job or the job simply wasn’t what they anticipated. Another factor is often that the orientation process was not welcoming.
Or – this is a huge one – new-hire training was on only one side of a spectrum. Training was either completely overwhelming, or it was nonexistent/not enough. Either way, a new employee could feel like they’re drowning early if the training they receive isn’t effective.
Employee left in the first 30 days
The results of ineffective training extend past the first week on the job. Often, employees who haven’t been trained properly make mistakes or are disciplined for poor performance – and these can often contribute to why an employee leaves within their first month.
In addition, an unrealistic workload or bullying from the seasoned staff are also common reasons for employee departures around this timeframe.
Employee left in the first 3 months
When asked why they left employment, 28% of folks said that the reason they left was because the job was not quite what they expected or was not a great fit. This can easily happen if an employer spend a lot of time talking up a new position, but then effectively abandons the new hire once they’re in that role.
Are you thinking about how new employees should continue to be trained, not just in their first few days, but as an ongoing process? New training needs often pop up within a couple of months on the job, and if those needs aren’t addressed, employees will start looking elsewhere because you “set them up to fail” or didn’t communicate expectations clearly.