Dive Brief:
- While recruiting remains a top concern for employers, retention risks for all worker classifications may remain unaddressed, according to an April 20 PRO Unlimited report. Of contingent workers surveyed for the report, over half who ended their assignments early did so within the first two months. One in three quit within the first month.
- Quit rates are especially high among application and software engineers, business systems analysts, project managers and data engineers. Voluntary termination rates have also skyrocketed since Q2 2020, the report said, jumping to 30% in Q1 2022 compared to just 5% in Q2 2020.
- To combat this, PRO Unlimited recommended better communication around DEI and building trust. Employer reputation matters, the company said; companies with good reviews on sites like Glassdoor have contractors that are more likely to stay on for the length of their assignments.
Dive Insight:
In the wake of labor shortages prompted by the pandemic, employers began turning to contingent workers in ways they hadn’t previously, experts told HR Dive. While employers typically turn to contingent workers to quickly fill gaps amid workforce uncertainty, the PRO Unlimited report suggested retention may be a concern among this cohort, potentially threatening those benefits.
While the report focused on contingent workers, retention has become a concern for talent of all types — and employees may expect something different than employers believe they need to provide. While employers in a PwC survey from August claimed to offer “company purpose and values” and “company leadership and culture” as top benefits for retention, employees said they wanted schedule flexibility, expanded benefits and improved compensation.
But as the report suggested, building trust with employees may be another way to improve retention. Employers that focus on equity, including equity outside the organization, may see an improved culture as a result, experts previously told HR Dive. Development opportunities may also prompt employees to stick around, particularly younger workers.
Notably, young workers may be another hot spot of retention issues. According to a Lattice report released this month, 60% of Gen Zers and 59% of younger millennials surveyed are actively looking for a new job. Mentorship as well as DEI reportedly are key to this generation of workers.