12 Employee Retention Facts That Will Keep You Up At Night

Employee retention has been a hot topic for Human Resources professionals and business owners for some time now. Concern over the subject has been growing and countless blogs, articles, and infographics have now been written across the web. Here is a list of employee retention facts all in one place:

Employee Retention Facts – Costs

• The average cost of replacing an employee earning $8.10 per hour is roughly $3,500.
• The cost of replacing middle level employees can be as high as 150% of their annual salary and high-level employees upwards of 400% of their annual salary.
• Only 17% of organizations are aware of the direct costs of employee turnover, and only 9% know their indirect costs.
• 45% percent of employers claim that millennials have the highest turnover rates in their company, costing them between $15,000 and $25,000.

Employee Retention Facts – Frequency

• 2.5 million Americans quit their jobs every month.
• The majority of all turnover– 52%, occurs in the first year of employment.
• 25% of all employees plan to change jobs in 2016.
• The average turnover for hourly employees is only four months, four times higher than their salaried counterparts.
• Retail and food service jobs experience the highest turnover rates of any other industry.
• The median number of years a U.S. worker has been in his or her current job is just 4.4, and just over 2 years for millennial employees.

Employee Retention Facts – Reasons for Leaving

• The most commonly cited reasons for quitting are as follows: lack of opportunities for professional development (30%), inadequate compensation (28%), boredom/lack of challenge (27%), and poor work/life balance (20%).
• For millennials, work life balance is even more important, as 89% feel that work-life balance is essential to happiness at work.