Engage With Staff To Retain Talent by Steve Ewin

The famous 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch was based on census information that suggested couples were likeliest to want a divorce after seven years of marriage.

Experts suggest when it comes to your employees, however, the itch is much likelier to occur between the first and second year of employment.

Recent Hay Group data shows that 25 per cent of employees plan to leave their job within two years and an even more alarming 50 per cent intend to leave within five years. When you consider the amount of money that businesses in Australia are investing in trying to attract and retain their talent, in addition to the cost of replacing an employee, which is estimated to range from 1.5 to 2.5 times their annual salary, it becomes clear that this high level of turnover represents a real issue for businesses.

So why do so many people regularly leave their jobs after this relatively short period of employment? Most employees have high levels of engagement in the first six months but this level of commitment slowly fades as they become increasingly frustrated with the lack of support they are receiving from the organisation as a whole.

Effectiveness of employees depends on their being engaged - that is, motivated and committed - as well as enabled, which is a combination of first being suited to their roles and second having a supportive environment.

Organisations that have highly engaged and enabled employees generate higher revenue growth (in fact 4.5 times the revenue growth of companies with low levels of engagement and enablement), higher customer satisfaction, better individual productivity and higher retention rates.

Employees with high levels of engagement but low levels of enablement - that is to say, they are motivated and committed but not supported by an enabling environment - are classified as "frustrated".

Reducing the percentage of frustrated employees should be a high priority for Australian companies, as these employees are likelier to leave an employer than those that have low engagement and low enablement.

To beat frustration and stave off the job itch, there are several practical steps an organisation can take.

Provide adequate resources. This is probably the most important and straightforward action a company can take to help employees to do their jobs well and with minimal levels of frustration.

Ensure training for current and new employees is readily available and aligned with changing job demands. This is extremely important when it comes to the retention of effective staff. It is also crucial to ensure work pressures do not hinder employees' access to training.

Have regular conversations about employee performance and development. Provide feedback on performance relative to expectations, coach your people in their development and discuss the barriers that may exist in the workplace.

As employees are inducted into their new environment, they are positive and look forward to exciting challenges.

They have joined the company for a variety of reasons, and it is now the responsibility of management to ensure that the reality of their experience matches the promise.

The cost of workers becoming frustrated and leaving is too high. The factors that will help sustain the relationship involve enabling employees for success and harnessing their engagement levels.

Companies need to provide the essential resources and support, train people continuously and give continual feedback to reap the benefits of increased productivity.

Steve Ewin is the head of Hay Group Insight across Australia and New Zealand.