New hires quitting a company within six months sounds terrible. According to a BambooHR survey report, the reasons why new employees leave at such an alarming rate could range from:
- Feeling of neglect.
- Overwhelmed.
- Under-appreciated.
- Under-qualified.
- A bad candidate experiences.
- A lack of mentorship and collaboration within the organization.
Below is the break down of when new hires leave:
- 1st Week: 16.45%
- 1st Month: 17.42%
- 2nd Month: 16.77%
- 3rd Month: 17.42%
- 4th Month: 10.97%
- 5th Month: 5.48%
- 6th Month: 14.48%
It’s quite alarming to note that 33.87% of new hires leave in the first month. If you take stock of the first three months, 68.06% of new hires leave in the first three months. In a separate study, it was noted that 90% of employees are open to new jobs even when there were not actively looking for one. So, an organization needs to ensure their recruitment and workforce management are top-notch. We will throw some light on the reasons for new hires leaving in detail.
Feeling of Neglect
Organizations sometimes don’t have processes that bolster mentorship. Sometimes out of neglect and sometimes out of pure ignorance. When new hires feel neglected, not finding support a system around, both from colleagues and managers, their work starts to get negatively affected. Productivity plummets almost immediately. This state of mind can create a state of isolation and might impact team collaboration. If mentorship is not offered, the new hire would consider leaving.
Preventive Steps:
- Bolster open work culture.
- Mentorship from managers regularly.
- Introduce feedback processes.
- Healthy team-meetings to discuss and address issues. (Not work-related)
Overwhelmed
In a recent survey, it was found that 40% of the 2,000 U.S adult workers were thinking of quitting because they felt burnt out. While there are various reasons for workers feeling burnt out (for example, lack of career growth or appreciation, etc.), a new hire needs to be aligned gradually with the company culture. If the onboarding process is not in place, and work allocated immediately before a new hire can settle in, he/she might get in a state of confusion, feeling burdened. If such a state of mind persists, a candidate may very well consider leaving.
Preventive Steps
- Organizations much have a refined onboarding process.
- Give a new hire time to settle.
- Define expectations clearly and in a phase-wise manner.
- Ensure collaboration between the new hire and the more experienced team members.
Underappreciated
It has been noted that underappreciation is one of the reasons even exceptions employees quit organizations. It’s a dangerous reason for an organization because even if you had hired the perfect candidate, the lack of appreciation might make him/her quit, incurring: 1) Monetary loss. 2) More importantly, a significant opportunity loss. Noted MIT professor has quoted:
“Ignoring the performance of people is almost as bad as shredding their effort before their eyes.”
For a new hire, a lack of appreciation could be shattering. It would be the opposite of settling in, which should be the priority of organizations for new hires.
Preventive Steps
- Build a robust employee engagement process. (For more on employee engagement: Visit Vultus Connect)
- Mentor, assess, and reward regularly.
- Have an employment recognition process in place.
- A formal thank you letter for additional work done from the higher-ups can also go a long way.
Candidate Experience
The first time you call a potential candidate is the moment of the beginning of the candidate experience. From there until onboarding, a candidate goes through various experiences that could be seamless and comfortable or haphazard or frustrating for him/her.
Some of the top reasons for a bad candidate experience:
- Unclear job description.
- No link to applications.
- No confirmation emails after the candidate applies.
- Long delays scheduling interviews.
After the candidate joins, make sure you do the following:
- A structured orientation program.
- Introduction of the employee to the company in a celebratory manner.
- A good transition time provided.
- Explain the benefits.
Lack of mentorship and collaboration within the organization.
The fundamental psychological need for a new hire is to feel a sense of purpose and belonging. Poorly designed mentorship programs, wrongly allocated tasks, and lack of collaborative work culture can prove to be hindrances that can result is the new hire leaving.
A new hire is going to be accountable for his new responsibilities. But at the start, the managers and colleagues are responsible for him. There are three aspects to this:
- Cultural Accountability.
- Role Accountability.
- Peer-to-peer Accountability.
The new hire needs to acclimatize himself to the culture of the organization. He/she may come from different company culture. It’s essential for the manager to personally mentor him and introduce him to the organization’s vision and work culture. The manager should also enforce a collaborative work methodology so that the new hire gets to know his/her colleagues better. This will provide an overall sense of comfort, purpose, and belonging in the new hire.
It takes a lot of effort to find the right candidate in today’s time. If 68.06% of new hires are quitting in their first three months in your company, you need to take a long hard look in every aspect of your recruitment process.
- Your first touch process: Posting jobs, acknowledging applications, scheduling interviews.
- Your social media assets elaborate, illustrating your company culture.
- Seamless onboarding processes.
- A collaborative work culture with well-designed inclusion programs.
- Well-meaning reward and benefit programs.
- Building a secure workplace for women.
If you follow these processes with due diligence, you can bring down the percentage of new hires quitting. It will lower your cost and time of hire. It will also build lasting employees for you performing at their best. Remember, an organization is only as good as its people.
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