21. March 2022
HR Study: Half Your Staff Are Thinking of Leaving – Here’s Why
The bad news? Some 46% of employees in Europe’s small and medium-sized companies plan to look for a new job in the next 12 months. That number alone shows a very clear change in the needs, wants and opportunities at hand for top talent.
Now, onto the good news: We delved into why more and more employees are thinking about quitting their jobs, and what factors would help them stay. Teaming up with the market research institute Opinium, Personio conducted a pan-European* study to dig deeper.
In the process, we discovered some eye-opening insights – alongside a host of possible solutions and strategies for organisations. The following is what we found.
Get the insights you need – read our HR study in full.
Employees Are on the Move – But Why?
Overall, 90% of HR managers in European SMEs report that their company suffers from skills shortages, recruitment problems or a lack of staff retention.
But, why? In the last two pandemic-impacted years, employees have reassessed their professional and personal values:
71% want more time for their families
71% want more work-life balance
68% want a higher salary
HR Study: The Great Re-evaluation
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This showcases the need for organisations to not only focus on attracting new talent but also on the talent they already have in the company.
As Pete Cooper, Director of People Planning, at Personio puts it best: “For employers, the priority shouldn’t just be to stop people leaving, it needs to be about retaining and maintaining a motivated, productive and engaged workforce.”
Sidenote: The problems may stem from the top. Some 48% of leadership teams do not realise the scale of our current skills shortages (as per the HR managers surveyed).
Study: The Great Re-evaluation
Understand in depth the post-pandemic trends that may be losing you talent, productivity, revenue and more. Check out our full study for vital insights.
See The Great Re-evaluation Study
The Top Reasons Why Employees are Leaving
Remote, hybrid, flexible – working during the pandemic is more challenging than ever. Some 32% of respondents see a stressful work environment as a reason to quit. But, too little praise and poor development opportunities also make employees think about changing jobs.
31% would quit because of a lack of appreciation of their work
30% would quit because of a lack of promotion opportunities
Stagnating career development seems to be a particularly sore point. Some 37% of employees say the pandemic has affected their careers, while 35% think they have missed out on a promotion they were entitled to. That can be a significant blow to morale.
What Does This All Mean?
“HR and leaders across organisations need to think very carefully about the inclusion of employees working remotely, in a hybrid fashion or fully in the office when it comes to careers and promotions,” says Perry Timms, Chief Energy Officer, People and Transformational HR Ltd.
This is especially important as the propensity to change roles is particularly high among remote workers (53%). This could be because remote workers are less loyal to their employers or have more options due to location-independent work.
Staying Is About More Than Money
Admittedly, a salary increase is a good reason for more than half of the employees (54%) to stay with their current employer. But, more appreciation is also high on the list (35%), as are a good work-life balance and benefits (30%).
Our study finds that as many as 96% of HR teams make use of retention strategies. For these to be effective, though, a holistic view needs to be taken of employee priorities, potential reasons for leaving and the factors that would help retain staff.
What Does This All Mean?
Our Chief People Officer, Ross Seychell pretty much sums it up: “Great quality performance and career discussions are crucial. They not only highlight personal pull and push factors, but also help leaders identify overworked or frustrated employees and ensure they get the appreciation and career progression opportunities they need.”
Guide: Attract & Retain Top Talent
We’ve reached a new era in talent attraction and retention: Attraction Plus. Our guide shares what it means to nurture your talent at each stage of the employee life cycle.
Learn How to Boost RetentionRethinking Performance Post Pandemic
Great performance management helps employees advance professionally, makes it easy for them to feel appreciated and to realise their own potential.
However, only 51% of employees say that appraisals are fair in their organisation. Moreover, our findings showed that supervisors have not been giving enough feedback regularly since the pandemic.
What Does This All Mean?
HR teams need to make the performance appraisal process fair, regular and suited to the new world of work. Especially when employees work remotely and are more disconnected from the workplace, exceptional inclusion is table stakes.
HR Teams Can Be Key Players in Success
In order to grow sustainably, SMEs need to pull out all the stops to retain their existing talent and hire the best candidates. Your HR function needs to prioritise sustainable talent acquisition and retention.
Currently, two things are missing: one in six HR respondents (18%) do not have the time or the resources to drive and manage more strategic tasks.
What Does This All Mean?
To be able to support companies on a strategic level, HR needs the right tools – the ones that relieve them of routine tasks and enable them to work with ease.
Let’s again turn to Ross Seychell: “Unless HR teams can be freed up from admin and access a powerful bedrock of data that can fuel their strategic decisions, businesses will risk their success.”
*Study countries: Germany, UK/Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden.
Hannah Popham
Hannah is a Senior Content Marketing Manager at Personio. She loves writing about the ever-changing ways that we work and how they intersect with our lives outside work.
