Employee Retention Statistics: A 2024 Overview

Companies spend big on recruiting the best of the best. And when they finally find the employee of their dreams, they are ready to make the proposal of a lifetime just to hire them. 

However, the candidate-to-employee transition can be a slippery slope and does not always have a happy ending. Eventually, all separation expenses—that can go as high as 33% of the employee’s annual income—are covered by the employer.

Read on to get ahead on the latest employee retention statistics and understand what it takes to keep your best talent and mitigate the negative impact of employee turnover. 

Top Employee Retention Stats: Editor’s Choice

  • 75% of US staffers have no intention of staying at their jobs for more than five years.  
  • For 87% of HR managers employee retention is a top priority.
  • 25% of people belong to a high employee retention risk group. 
  • 40% of employees leave their jobs because of the poor performance of their seniors.
  • 96% of employees believe empathy is important to retain them. 
  • Clear onboarding processes improve retention rates by 23%.
  • Over 70% of employees are compelled to leave for the sake of career advancement.
  • Almost half of the employees would take another job for a 20% pay raise. 
  • Inadequate employee training accounts for 40% of resignations. 
  • 30% of millennials will jump ship for a better job offer.  

Employee Retention Statistics Rundown

1. 75% of US staffers have no intention of staying at their jobs for more than five years.  

Largely due to the continued low unemployment rate in the US, most employees in the country don’t stay at their job for over five years. This in turn gives rise to separation rates, affecting retention percentage and costing businesses an incredible $1 trillion a year. Small enterprises are facing the biggest employee retention problems as the client-driven market presses them to improvise with incentives to hire better applicants. 

2. Roughly a third of employees resign within the first six months. 

Recent employee retention statistics reveal that out of 1,000 employees, 31% quit their jobs in less than six months from the date they are hired. Participants of the research listed onboarding experience and unclear job expectations as some of the reasons for their resignation. Attrition statistics help organizations in their efforts to improve onboarding programs and employee retention strategies.

3. Over half of the enterprises worldwide struggle with personnel retention

Hiring worldwide is increasing but so are employee turnover rates, employee retention rate statistics show. This leaves over 50% of employers worldwide with low employee retention rates in a rather unfavorable position.

After all the time and resources invested in obtaining talent, businesses are left short of their shining stars. Job satisfaction statistics provide some compelling evidence as to why employees opt to quit their jobs and join a competitor very soon after they’ve been hired. 

4. For 87% of HR managers employee retention is a top priority.

51.7% of employees resign on a voluntary basis and 35% are so unhappy with their jobs that they are job hunting around-the-clock. Thanks to employee retention statistics, HR managers now have a clearer image of what needs to improve to keep their best talents with them.

Hence, nine out of 10 HR professionals plan to work hard on keeping their company’s most cherished assets over the next five years.

5. Only 1.3% of government employees quit their jobs.

Not surprisingly, government employees are not in the habit of quitting their jobs. After all, they come with an all-inclusive retirement package. As a result, the sector has a high employee retention rate. As employee retention statistics indicate, other sectors such as finance and insurance with 1.4% and the wholesale trade with 1.9% of employees resigning are packed with satisfied employees.

6. 25% of people belong to the high employee retention risk group. 

Talented and top-performing employees are usually harder to retain. To avoid losing a quarter of their best employees, companies must focus on establishing a solid employee retention plan.

An incredible 46% of high-performing employees use their apps to search for a better job. And whilst one cannot ban them from searching, the least that can be done is to make sure the organization is updating their online profile on the latest job vacancies.

What Are the Factors Affecting Employee Retention?

7. 40% of employees leave their jobs because of the poor performance of their seniors.

56% of employees believe their managers were promoted too soon and more than half believe their managers have not received appropriate training. Employees who are dissatisfied with the performance of the managers are likely to start looking for a new job. Moreover, almost half of them have attended a job interview in the past three months.

8. Companies with remote working programs have higher retention rates.

Remote working options or a more flexible arrangement with the working hours can be a strong weapon in boosting your employee retention rate. Research shows that businesses supporting this option have a 25% lower employee turnover than those that don’t. Remote working significantly improves the employees’ experience.

Furthermore, there are plenty of very talented employees who, for whatever reasons, cannot be fully committed to working in an office which makes this a more sustainable arrangement.

9. 24% of employees who feel unrecognized by their boss are interviewing for a new job.

Lack of recognition triggers the job hunt. A total of 21.5% of employees who feel their hard work is not being recognized have had a job interview with another employer in the last three months. Employee loyalty statistics highlight another important fact: employees belonging to businesses that recognize their efforts have five times higher chances of staying there.    

10.  96% of employees believe empathy is important to retain them. 

Nearly all employees want to be part of organizations that are empathetic. And managers believe they’ve got it right as 92% of them think this is the state of things within their companies. But does it mean that retention in the workplace is booming? Well, not exactly, since only 50% of employees see their direct supervisors as empathetic. Obviously, it takes more than just declaring you are empathetic to boost your average employee retention rate.  

11. Feedback improves job retention rates.

The ability to give feedback about their workspace experience is important to 60% of US employees. Employers who frequently ask for and actually act upon it have four times higher chances of keeping their staff. Companies with such an encouraging culture have proven skillful in managing employee retention. The downside, however, is that only 30% of workers say their employers act on their feedback. 

12. Clear onboarding process improves retention rates by 23%.

Almost one-quarter of employees say they will probably stay with a company that has made their job responsibilities clear from the very beginning. Employee retention statistics tend to be more favorable for companies with well-organized onboarding processes. However, although aware of the connection between staff onboarding and retention processes, 76% of HR leaders render their onboarding processes insufficiently utilized. 

13. Companies with engaged employees get to keep 66% of them. 

Engaged staff means the right culture governs the workplace. Employee engagement statistics indicate that more than half of employees who feel blissfully immersed in their jobs are less likely to seek employment elsewhere. On the contrary, companies that pay little to no attention to employee engagement will eventually lose 31% of their employees, employee retention stats indicate.

14. Over 70% of employees are compelled to leave for the sake of career advancement.

Give them career advancement and they’ll be yours until the end of their working days, or at least 20% of them. This small percentage can be lured into staying with the company if they are given the chance to advance or build their skills. The remaining simply feel they have climbed as high as they could up the ladder and there is nowhere else to go but out. 

15. Almost half of the employees would take another job for a 20% pay raise. 

Money makes the world go round. Employees know it and retention stats show it. Exactly 44% of employees quit to take a better-paid job without thinking twice. Of all the employee retention factors, money is the strongest for it drives employees and often leaves employers with very few cards to play to retain them. 

16. Weak corporate culture leads to low employee retention.

If the management does not practice what they preach, they should not hope their human resources will remain faithful to them. Bad company culture will cost an organization one-quarter of their employees in less than a year. In fact, employee retention statistics show 43% of breadwinners are fishing for a new job due to an unsuitable culture in their workplace. 

17. Corporate well-being programs drive 89% of employee referrals.

Companies that promote well-being initiatives are less likely to have staff retention issues. However, what is critical to a successful well-being program is that the leadership shows a strong dedication to it. Otherwise, this high percentage of recommendations given by employees is set to drop to only 17%. 

18. Confidence in leaders yields a positive employee retention rate.

Healthy relationships in the workspace are appreciated by employees worldwide. The latest teamwork statistics show that 59% of workers have faith in their team members. In addition, a solid 50% claim they have full confidence in their leadership. As employee retention studies have proved, companies that nourish such levels of confidence among staffers are five times more likely to keep their employees for over two years. 

19. Inadequate employee training accounts for 40% of resignations. 

Organizations that reskill their workers with comprehensive training are focusing on employee retention factors and ROI. In fact, numbers show that their income per employee is bound to increase by a staggering 218%. Continuous development makes workers love their job even more and training and employee retention statistics further support this. Four out of 10 employees will leave the company in a year if their employer does not invest in them. 

20. 30% of millennials will jump ship for a better job offer.  

Studies on millennials in the workplace show that they crave professional growth as much as Baby Boomers and Generation X. A whopping 70% said professional development and career advancement must be part of the job package. Employee retention stats confirm that 27% of millennials resign because their goals are not in alignment with their employer’s, while 13% point to career development or lack of such as a key factor for switching employers.   

21. Only 2% of employees decide to end their contract to find a more secure job. 

Job security, job fitness, and benefits are important factors that many HR leaders neglect when developing strategies for the retention of employees. The truth is that they are missing some good reasons why employees stay in the company and ways to retain them. Employee retention rate statistics show that 20.2% of employees who are unsuitable for the role they were assigned to resign, and another 22% leave in search of better benefits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is employee retention?

Employee retention is a set of practices implemented by organizations in a bid to maintain a positive workspace with the ultimate goal of retaining employees over a given period. Employee retention is a key factor in the operation of any business, as investments in it have a higher ROI than the initial investment made in recruitment. 

Why is employee retention important?

Employees are at the bottom of success for any company, which is not only measured in profits, growth, and customer satisfaction. Retaining your talent is critical, as good employees are hard to find, the cost of losing them is high, and employee tenure is priceless. Furthermore, high employee turnover hurts corporate morale, leading to lower levels of productivity and motivation.

What are retention strategies?

A successful retention strategy aims at decreasing employee separations and attrition (learn how to calculate attrition here) by engaging and motivating employees in the long run. The key to a successful employee retention strategy lies in its harmony with your company’s business goals. Some of the elements of a great strategy include:

  • Competitive salary and benefits
  • Transparent onboarding process
  • Work-life balance support
  • Productive leadership
  • Open communication culture 
  • Employee engagement

What is an employee retention policy?

Employee retention policy is a dynamic document or rather a list of preferences for a company’s top-performing employees. To be successful, employee retention policies should be based on employee feedback. Retention policies comprise the techniques an organization is willing to employ to meet the needs of its employees. 

Who is responsible for employee retention?

Every time an employee resigns, initially the responsibility falls on the HR department to find out the reason behind the decision. The fact of the matter is, all members of the organization are directly or indirectly responsible for employee retention. And it is up to the leadership of the company to be committed to highlighting the importance of their talent and maintaining a healthy workspace.

Conclusion

A company failing to retain its most valuable brand ambassadors could trigger a chain reaction leaving it hemorrhaging for talent. Losing an employee could have long-term negative consequences, particularly on the morale and productivity of other team members. Building stellar employee retention strategies save organizations both time and money. And our list of employee retention statistics offers some compelling data for employers who want to be on the side where the grass is always greener.


Sources

Small Business TrendsBonuslyDailyPayTINYPulseForbesDailyPayGallupQualtricsQuantum WorkplaceShift LearningGallup