This is how you heighten an employees’ ‘intention to stay’
The ‘intention to stay’ with their own organisstion is decreasing among employees. How can you turn the tide in your organisation? According to research, focus on these top three influencers: building confidence in the future of the organisation, growth and opportunities for development, as well as a belief in the organisational values.
The percentage of employees who intended to stay decreased from 70% in 2021 to 64% in 2023, according to global research by Qualtrics, an engagement research software provider. That’s a striking percentage, especially when one considers that this means an average of 36% of employees intend to leave their organization. And they do: employee turnover rates are increasing and now stand at an average of 20%.
Research has revealed a number of key points that employees base their intention to stay on: being paid enough, and feeling good about their work-life balance. But that’s not enough; due to economic uncertainty, combined with large numbers of vacancies, employees want proof that they’re still working for the right employer.
Research also revealed that if you want to have employees who intend to stay with your organization, you must focus on these top three influencers: building confidence in the future of the organization, growth and opportunities for development, as well as a belief in the organizational values. HXWork offers tips for incorporating these three influencers and thus reducing employee turnover.
Confidence in the future of the organisation
Involve employees in shaping the strategic goals, innovation and the translation to operations. Employees are often brimming with ideas about how to make their work smarter, the product better and the customer focus greater. This in turn will make employees feel that they’re being taken seriously, because their opinions are sought. The result is a greater sense of commitment to the organisation.
Because ideas come from the employees themselves, changes will be much more readily accepted. Additionally, ensure that there is open and frequent communication about goals and achievements. Make employees proud of the organisation’s products and services – research reveals that employees are then twice as likely to stay. Allow employees to actually use the products themselves and utilize their reviews. Employees who become fans of the products or services are subsequently more likely to stay. Share the results of customer research and celebrate successes, both large and small. Incorporate (references) to products and services in the work space, for example.
Opportunities for growth and development
Employees regard opportunities for growth and development as extremely important. For employees, it’s not necessarily about progressing upwards (although that’s also important), but rather also about learning and using new, relevant and transferable skills. Investing in growth and development heightens employee satisfaction, motivation and their enjoyment of their current positions. However, only half of all employees say their current employers properly satisfy their need for growth opportunities. And those who want to grow, but cannot, will leave.
What can you do to provide more opportunities for growth and development? Focus on developing everyone’s talents, not just the group of high potentials. Provide employees with the facilities they need for discovering their talents. Identify each other’s talents within a (project) team and discuss how you can do more with them, both as a team and organization. Developing talent instils confidence. Have discussions with one another about development, and offer opportunities for development, even if there’s a gap in knowledge and experience. Provide space for learning and making mistakes. And don’t immediately make cuts to training budgets if the economy sours.
Believe in organizational values
Believing in and feeling connected to the organisation’s values are key drivers for positive employee experiences and intentions to stay. Additionally, employees want to work for organisations that ‘do the right thing’, whether that concerns environmental, social or governance initiatives.
What can you do to heighten the belief in organisational values? Organisations would do well to let their values ‘live’, by actively engaging with them and using them as a compass. And don’t step away from this if it’s suitable to do so. Ensure the core values are reflected in daily behavior, and use words that everyone understands. Establish goals and action plans that help the core values flourish. Actively involve employees in environmental, social and governance innovations. Set goals and frequently communicate about social responsibility activities, both within and outside the organisation. Organisations are often hesitant to boast about their activities, but this can have consequences, because employees will not see and hear about all the efforts their organisation is making, and thus they often underestimate them. And that’s a pity if one wants to retain employees.
Invest in new employees
The ‘intention to stay’ is seemingly lowest among new employees, as they have the weakest connection to the organisation. Of the employees employed for less than one year, an average of 46% intend to stay, while that figure is 74% for employees employed for more than ten years. The reason for this is that new employees will have had recent experiences with the current job market, and therefore know their worth. Consequently, use good onboarding and guidance, like buddy programs, to invest in new employees. To avoid losing employees quickly, incorporate the abovementioned three influencers in your onboarding programs.
Meaningful use of survey results
Listening more attentively to employees and collecting their feedback is certainly a trend today, but organisations falter when it comes to actually doing something meaningful with the results. Only 44% of employees say that they’ve noticed positive changes after a survey was conducted. Moreover, only 42% of employees were given the opportunity to discuss the survey results. It is therefore unsurprising that those who did notice positive changes, and were able to participate, had much higher engagement scores.
