19 December 2007
Employees reject mentor programs in favor of other engagement factors
Retention and engagement cost businesses up to AU$88,000 per employee.
Across Australia, over a quarter of employers believe retention is a problem for their organization, so says the quarterly report from recruitment organization, Hudson.
Of the companies surveyed, over 90% were active in engagement initiatives, with most offering flexible working options.
The report, which includes survey data from more than 7,000 employers, states that retention is of bigger concern in:
- Queensland (35.5%);
- Western Australia (33.6%);
- the Australian Capital Territory (33.1%); and
- Victoria (31.5%).
There's less concern in:
- South Australia (23.1%); and
- New South Wales (22.6%).
Concern breakdown by industry sector
Within the various industry sectors the following showed the most concern about retention issues:
- tourism and hospitality (39.5%);
- telecommunications (39.8%); and
- professional services (35.1%).
But education (14.9%), manufacturing (24.5%), fast moving consumer goods (22.7%) and transport (23.8%) industries showed lesser concerns.
A costly problem
However, while sectors and regions show variations, any organization faces substantial costs should they need to attract new staff.
Hudson “conservatively” puts the cost of a new hire, which includes recruitment, hiring, orientation and training, at anywhere between AU$29,000 – AU$88,000 per exiting employee (based on an average salary of AU$59,000). Invisible costs of this turnover, such as loss of expertise and productivity could also see that cost triple.
Focusing on staff
Faced with potentially debilitating turnover in a market where unemployment is at 4.2% – the lowest average in 20 years – inevitably organizations are focusing their efforts on engaging with staff, keeping them happy and offering substantial professional development.
Organizations are focusing their efforts on engaging with staff, keeping them happy and offering substantial professional development.
Of those companies surveyed, over 90% were active in engagement initiatives and most offer:
- flexible working options (67.5%);
- financial incentives (62%);
- leadership development (48.2%); and
- succession planning (47.7%).
The least popular engagement initiatives included:
- mentoring programs (36%);
- formal coaching (35.4%); and
- high-potential programs (27.8%).
• All statistics quoted from the Hudson Employment and HR Trends, Australia, October –December 2007 report.
Have your say
Are you engaged at your organization or will you be searching for a new role in the new year? Answer this week’s poll on the topic and share your thoughts with your communication peers by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
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