Dive Brief:
- The more job applicants know about a company and its job opening, the longer they stay onboard once hired, a Glassdoor study concludes. The job recruiting site says that the average employee's stay is just above four years and has been on the decline since 2014. Employers can raise their retention rates by hiring candidates who put in the time to research the company and the job, Glassdoor said.
- Declining retention rates mean greater rehiring costs. To rehire and refill Glassdoor's six million job openings would cost employers from $29.1 billion to $32.6 billion over four years. Glassdoor’s Economic Research team arrived at these numbers by factoring in an average four-year retention rate of 49%; the average cost of rehiring employees, which amounts to 21.4% of their salary; and the average U.S. worker's base salary near $51,000.
- Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor’s chief economist, created a free calculator employers can use to estimate the average cost savings from selecting good candidates and, by doing so, raising their retention rates.
Dive Insight:
Candidates who come to interviews well-prepared and knowledgeable are more likely to remain on the job longer than those who accepted the job and later left because the job wasn't what they expected. Savvy candidates will research a company and come to interviews with well-thought-out questions about the job opening and company's culture. But employers can also do their part to ensure those who interview come away knowing as much as they can about the company and the position.
A transparent recruiting and hiring process can be as effective as any strategy in raising retention. Employers should welcome this job-hunting approach and be ready with candid responses about their organizations and job expectations. It's never a bad time to re-examine job advertisements and descriptions for accuracy to the job's actual functions. Doing so could save you from some compliance potholes, too.
Some workplace exits are natural and should be expected, however. The stigma of leaving a job after only a year or two isn't as great as it once was, and job-hopping is increasingly normalized (and not only the purview of millennials). Massive exits, however, might signal internal problems that HR will need to address. Exit interviews can provide data on the reasons employees leave and insight into ways to keep them onboard.