Why Your New Hires Are Quitting and What You Can Do About It

Have you been losing new hires more and more frequently? Unfortunately, this seems to have become a frustrating trend for managers, recruiters, and HR personnel over the last few years. Recent studies show that nearly one in four new hires are quitting within their first six months. New hire retention has become an issue that has left many companies at a complete loss, the turnover costing them both time and thousands of dollars. There can be many reasons a new hire quits, but below you’ll find the current top three reasons many are ditching their new jobs.

Better Opportunities

Having a new hire quit before they even start their position can leave managers feeling a little blindsided. Hiring a candidate far in advance of the actual starting date for the position can be risky. This lag time allows the hire plenty of time to seek better opportunities with a more flexible schedule, better benefits, closer location, or higher pay. If you must hire in such advance, keep this factor in mind. If you are to find out the hire changed their mind about your offer, make sure to get them on the phone and discuss their options. Are there any incentives or perks of the job that you haven’t shared with them yet that might encourage them to stick with your job offer? Is there any confusion over the offer or the position?

If new employees aren’t building relationships or feeling valued in their first few months, they won’t see the value in sticking it out with your company. Therefore, there will not be much keeping them from continuing to seek better opportunities while training. Do your best to make them feel like an important part of your team, even though they are new. Invite them to lunch, introduce them to like-minded colleagues, keep the lines of communication open.

Company Culture

The culture within companies has become a major factor in choosing a place of employment for millenials. And while you can try to showcase your company culture through your website or social media, it is hard for a potential employee to gauge if it is the right fit until they have been emerged into the position and company. If your company has not taken the time to step back, evaluate, and work to cultivate a healthy culture, now is the time. According to a survey by Jobvite, 32% of new hires that quit were disappointed in the company’s culture. This is a key to keeping new and long-term employees happy and motivated.

Lack of Communication

Keeping in touch with your new hires during the lag between the interview, offer, hire, and start date is very important. Check in with them frequently by shooting off emails asking, for example, if there is anything they need or if they have any questions before their first day. Put them in touch with someone in their department or someone they will be working with directly so they can start building a relationship before they even start. The transition into a new position can be lonely and overwhelming for new hires. Helping to build working relationships between them and other employees with more experience during the onboarding process will only benefit your company. If a new employee makes ties at a company, they are more likely to stick around.

Another mistake some companies are making that often leads to the loss of new hires is inaccurate job descriptions. This can be very frustrating for employees. Take time to confirm job descriptions with the manager of this position and others that currently work the same position. Understanding the job from multiple perspectives will ensure a more accurate job description and keep both employees and their managers on the same page, minimizing frustrations and miscommunications.

At the end of the day, you have to be honest with candidates about the position, expectations, and your company. Your honesty will help create an open line of communication between you and your new hires, which will also help to foster a better company culture overall. Clear up your processes on all three of these factors and you will start to notice an improvement in your new hire retention.