In August of 2021, 2.9 percent of the people in the United States quit their jobs. That was the highest total number of individuals willfully leaving employment since December of 2000. The number of those quitting in August rose by 242,000 to 4.3 million. The Covid outbreak essentially caused those skyrocketing numbers, and seemingly overnight, the idea of employee retention became a top priority for leadership in 2022.
In our continued Blog Series, we discuss the Top 3 Reasons learning and professional development are essential to your company. We continue on this journey as we break down each reason with its personalized blog; this blog focuses on Employee Retention.
If you've missed the previous entries in our Learning and Professional Development series, check them out here:
What is Employee Retention?
Employee Retention is an organization's ability to maintain its employees. The ability to hire great employees AND keep them is one of the top priorities companies have going into 2022. The Great Resignation of 2021 caused many to re-evaluate their pay structures, policies, and cultures to gain the opportunity to hire top talent. Many professionals are leaving their jobs due to low wages. However, studies have shown that the more companies train their employees, the higher their return on investment. U.S. businesses lose one trillion dollars yearly due to voluntary employee turnover. Keeping great employees goes hand in hand with learning and professional development training.
The Facts
Directly correlating to our previous blog post, a recent study by Career Builder showed that a company, on average, loses more than $14,000 for every job that stays vacant longer than three months. Losing employees equates to losing revenue. There are many reasons why people voluntarily leave their jobs, but a lack of learning and professional development is shown to be high on the list. For example, Team members want to feel valued and seek opportunities to grow. 75% of employees with learning and professional development opportunities will likely stay for another five years.
Adding it all Together
Investing in the future of your employees is one of the best investments you can make. Not only does employee retention help your revenue gains, but it helps your company with its image. For example, Human Resource management training would help reduce your staff turnover by 70% and result in a 300% reduction in staff turnover. When your revenue grows, so will the ability to invest more in employee salaries and promotions. Growth for a company is growth for its employees. It's important to remember that top talent will go elsewhere when faced with little or no growth opportunities. That will lead to a high turnover rate, discouraging good candidates from applying. That is not the hiring cycle your company wants to find itself in.
Takeaways
Retaining your top talent should be high on your list of priorities for 2022. Providing growth opportunities and a dedication to learning and professional development instills a feeling of value and confidence in your staff and will also better serve your bottom line.
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