A staggering 31 percent of individuals have quit a job within the first six months of their start date. What causes so many new employees to quit early on?
According to BambooHR, 45 percent of HR representatives estimate that over $10,000 is wasted on ineffective new hire onboarding every year. With a few simple fixes, it’s possible to drastically increase new hire retention. Here are the main reasons why new employees quit only a short amount of time after being hired and how to address these issues.
An Insufficient Onboarding Program
One of the most common reasons why new employees quit is inadequate training. If an employee isn’t given the proper tools to succeed in their position, they’ll likely become frustrated fast.
A major mistake that companies make is placing all the onboarding responsibilities solely on Human Resources. In fact, more than 33 percent of new employees would prefer for their direct managers to be in charge of onboarding processes.
Smooth and thorough on-boarding procedures are vital for companies looking to boost new employee retention. Investing into on-the-job training, mentoring programs, and employee handbooks are easy ways to increase new hire satisfaction.
Unrecognized Talent or Potential
Another common reason why new employees quit a position stems from feelings of unrecognized value. This often begins when daily job responsibilities greatly differ from those discussed during the interview.
According to recruiter.com, the two most common reasons new hires give for leaving is not doing the work they were hired for and not doing any of the exciting tasks discussed during the interview.
Managers should constantly be asking themselves if new employees have responsibilities that are consistent with what they were originally hired for. If they’re not, new hires may grow frustrated and quit.
Lack of Communication
When it comes to new hires, the average employer ranks communication skills twice as important as managerial skills. However, communication is a two-way street and an equal amount of value should be placed on the communication skills of employees holding supervising positions.
Both parties are responsible to communicate what is or is not working. When possible, full transparency is encouraged and will ensure that new employees have realistic expectations.
Overall, it’s important that both the new employee and manager are on the same page from the moment of hire. Open communication is essential not only during the onboarding process but throughout all interactions during the employee’s time with the company.
How The Create Your Career Can Help
Those who take the Highlands Ability Battery learn about their naturally preferred communication style and how it differs from other common communication styles. Now, imagine if every company leader understood how they were wired to process information and communicate that information and had an insight into how each team member’s communication style, too?
Imagine a manager describing those communication preferences from the start – clearly accelerating the employee’s learning curve on how to work best with the manager. Even more awesome is the employee who can ask for new information in a format most easily digestible. Now that’s refreshing!
