What Reasons Are You Giving Your Employees To Stay?
In 2018, employees left their jobs at the highest rate since 2001, a trend that is continuing in 2019. The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that quit rates are fairly consistent at 2.3% (or 3.5 million employees) each month. At the same time, new jobs are being added to the economy every month – 263,000 were recorded in April, exceeding all forecasts and making staff retention the focus for 2019.
But as employers scramble to recruit new talent or simply hold on to the people they have, they are missing one vital piece of the puzzle.
94% of employees would remain with your organization if you invest in career development and learning according to LinkedIn’s 2019 Workplace Learning Report, in which it describes 2019 as the ‘year of the talent developer’.
For around a quarter of millennials and Generation Z, learning is the one thing that makes them happier in their work – and happier employees are more motivated, more productive, more engaged and less likely to look for career opportunities outside of your organization.
By investing in career development for all of your employees, you can tap into their hidden potential and aspirations, align learning with your business goals and address current and predicted skills gaps.
A different perspective on the skills gap
Some sources even suggest that the skills gap is exacerbated – and in part caused – by the reluctance of employers to invest in their workforce. In 2017, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) noted that ‘surveys show that most employers are struggling to find and hire qualified people. But the solution is in their hands: provide the training needed to get the workers they want.’
In fact, investment in skills and career development of your employees is one of the most overlooked solutions to overcoming the skills gap and it can be achieved with career pathing.
Career pathing – a systematic approach to career development
What is career pathing? Career pathing is the process used by an employee to map their career path within a company. It enables your employees to map multiple career path scenarios, evaluate job competencies and identify any skills gaps they may have. It plays a key role in retaining talent and improving engagement, providing incentives for talent to stay with your business, knowing that you are fully invested in their future.
The role of your employees: Successful career pathing requires each of your employees to take an indepth and honest look at their career aspirations and the learning and development needed to achieve those goals. It requires an understanding of the qualifications, skills, personal characteristics and experience needed for them to continue to progress in their career, either through promotion or a lateral move.
The employer’s responsibility: As an employer, the onus is on you to support individuals in their career development by providing access to existing and future job openings and how to succeed in those roles. That might include information such as job descriptions, job specifications, job competencies, coaching or mentoring from line managers, advice on lateral moves, appropriate skills training and a transparent internal job application process.
Enhancing learning for your employees helps them to feel valued. To retain your talent, research suggests two of the highest ranked benefits to retain talent in the next five years are:
- Technical and high skills training (considered very important by 80% of organizations).
- Professional development programs for soft skills (74%).
Career pathing offers the perfect starting point to both of these benefits for your organization.
Support your career pathing strategy with award winning technology from TalentGuard. Our dedicated career pathing software supports your employees to map multiple career path scenarios, review job competencies and evaluate skills gaps in order to achieve their career goals – and give them a reason to stay with your organization.
What Employees Really Want From Their Managers
Employees don’t quit organizations, they quit managers. It’s a frequently made claim but one that today’s organizations cannot afford to ignore. Repeated studies show that poor management performance is a major reason people leave their jobs. In fact, employees who rate their line manager’s performance as poor are four times more likely to be job hunting – and 40% are likely to have interviewed for a new job in the last month.
Implementing successful talent retention strategies is a problem that most organizations are all too familiar with, but your leadership has a significant role to play.
The Symptoms of an Employee Without Career Opportunities
A number of behavioral symptoms present themselves when your employees feel there is no career progression or long-term career path open to them. A fall in productivity is one of the most obvious but others include inattention to detail, and printing of past performance reviews to use as reference for their next job.
Overcoming the Three Obstacles to Employee Empowerment
As the skills shortage continues, employers are looking for new and innovative ways to encourage higher engagement and motivation among their staff.
Most HR professionals are all too aware that their employees become disengaged and unhappy if they feel they are performing repetitive and monotonous tasks each day. Low engagement levels impact employee productivity and your organization’s attrition levels may rise as a result.
