October 22, 2019

Attracting and retaining talent is becoming more and more difficult as organizations grow and as tech continues to boom. We have spoken to hundreds of hiring managers and to thousands of candidates over the last six years and have determined some of the top reasons people leave their jobs. The costs associated with backfill are extensive. For a medium-size company, the annual cost of turnover is $1.57 million. Depending on the size of your company, these can be magnanimous. The following will help you determine where to focus your efforts to mitigate these challenges and increase employee retention throughout your organization.

STAGNATION
A common concern that candidates express to us is a lack of challenge in their role. According to a study conducted by Harris Poll, almost 77% of employees feel they’re ‘on their own‘ to develop their careers within a company. A lack of career growth and advancement is one of the biggest reasons people leave their jobs. The 2019 Millennial Manager Workplace Survey reports that 75% of millennials believe that constantly changing jobs advanced their careers. You can’t promote everyone, but you can ensure that people are doing interesting work and constantly learning. Building and learning new technologies is one of the best ways you can keep your team learning. Make sure to spread the maintenance around and ensure that everyone gets to do interesting work from time-to-time.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Tech is not a predictable 9 – 5 role and anyone in this industry knows that sometimes there are long hours involved. However, sleeping at the office should never be the norm. Work-life balance is considered one of the top deciding factors by 73% of job seekers when assessing a new role; as such, a lot of companies are now offering flexible hours and the option to work from home. There are times during a critical launch when additional hours will be required, but if your team is constantly working late in the evening and on weekends, they will burn out. Too much stress on the job can create a toxic culture. Stay apprised of your team; when you see them working late steadily, remind them to log off. Employ walking meetings, offer mental health days, ensure they take vacation and explore other ways to create balance.

COMPENSATION
Money isn’t everything, but it is one of the reasons that 25% of people leave their jobs, though less prevalent among Millennials. A lot of candidates begin looking elsewhere if they feel that they aren’t getting paid their worth. A common area this occurs is in startups. As a role evolves and responsibilities grow, it’s only fair that the compensation should follow suit. Another common mistake is underpaying newcomers. 1.2 million new immigrants came to Canada between 2011-2016, yet they make 16% less than those born in Canada. They’re also typically younger and have more education than the average Canadian. Since The cost of hiring and training someone is high and since 59% of developers are open to new job opportunities, you’re not saving anything by underpaying if they leave.

FALSE HOPES
This is when someone leaves the organization within their first few months. According to a survey done by Jobvite, 30% of job seekers have left a job within 90 days of starting. There are many reasons people leave a job in the first few months, but the main reasons we have seen are disorganized leadership, incomplete interview process, the position being different from what they signed up for, inadequate training or an incomplete or poor onboarding experience. Disorganized employees who earn $50,000 annually fosters companies an additional $11,000 in lost time. Transfer this to a new hire, and that amount will most definitely increase. You never get a second chance to make a first impression – this adage applies to leadership if they want to retain the talent they’ve acquired.

CULTURE
A negative culture will always chase away the best engineers because they’re marketable and can find another job in a matter of weeks …or as quick as 12.5 days for some developer roles. A lack of recognition for their efforts and accomplishments are obvious reasons why people leave their jobs, as are stressful or toxic environments. Happy hour and team events after hours are not for everyone. Instead, focus your team events during working hours to build team cohesion and alleviate the stress of working long hours. According to Forbes, 36% of employees say lack of recognition is the top reason to leave their jobs. Take the time to give your team a shout out when they’ve reached critical milestones, or have been putting in extra hours. Small gestures truly go a long way!

Attracting the right talent is challenging; retaining that talent is critical to the success of your team and your company.