More than ever before, job hopping is the new norm. According to Gallup, 51 per cent of workers are looking to leave their current jobs. The Balance reports that today the average person changes jobs ten to fifteen times (with an average of 12 job changes) during his or her career.
Retaining a positive and motivated team is crucial to an organisation’s success. High employee turnover not only increases expenses, but it also has a negative effect on production and company morale – which ultimately affects the end user’s attitude toward a brand. It’s time to reverse the job-hopping trend for good.
Megan James, a clinical psychotherapist, who is also content strategist for MGID, a native advertising marketplace, gives her three science-backed ways to increase employee happiness and lower turnover rates for a better bottom line:
Be human
People like working for places that respect their personal time. Allowing employees to take time off without hassle, work from home when requested, or occasionally show up late goes a long way. Flexibility in a place that doesn’t micro-manage a professional’s time is a mature, healthy environment to work in. Life happens outside of work—good and bad. Compassionate leaders who really get this are effective leaders.
Compensate with money
Money has a huge impact on company culture and is a significant motivator for employees. Most recent college grads and employees younger than 30 rate company culture as more important than salary. Older counterparts have the reverse reaction, undoubtedly because people in their 30s and older have more skills, more bills, more mouths to feed, and more debt. A company that fosters professional growth with monetary rewards and raises will always maintain more employees than the company that rewards with free swag.
Cultivate culture, don’t force it
I think all of us working for someone else, from time to time, need to remember that work is work; it’s your job. People can’t expect awesome benefits and then start showing up habitually late or complaining when asked to go above or beyond their job description. A great work culture is based on mutual respect.
Best advice for managers is to manage not only the people in their office, but also the environment they’ll be spending time together in. And start hiring candidates who talk about longevity. Seniority and commitment should be praised as much, if not more, than camaraderie. Great work cultures are not forced but developed organically over time out of respect between managers and workers.
Further reading on employee happiness
