2020 Could Bring Increased Employee Turnover

More workers are planning to change jobs this year than in 2019.

This is according to Achievers’ “2020 Employee Engagement & Retention Report,” which found that only 33% of the 1,154 North American employees surveyed expect to stay at their jobs this year, which is down from the 47% who said they were staying in 2019.   

A lack of employee engagement could be the main culprit for this, as just 19% of employees surveyed consider themselves “very engaged,” while 14% are fully disengaged. Even the 32% surveyed with “average engagement” are open to new job opportunities.

“Our data shows a substantial portion of today’s workforce already has one foot out the door,” said Dr. Natalie Baumgartner, chief workforce scientist at Achievers. “This is a huge shift from what we found last year: that despite disengagement, 65% of employees were planning on staying at their jobs. Employers must take immediate action to reverse these feelings of underappreciation and disengagement. If they don’t, the risk of turnover and underperformance in 2020 is immense.”

Leadership Is Falling Flat on Culture Building

• The perception of leadership’s commitment to culture and employee experience declined, with only 23% of employees surveyed stating senior leaders are “very committed” or have “more than average” commitment, compared to 31% who said the same in 2019.
• One-third of employees (33%) surveyed believe leadership is “minimally committed” to culture and employee experience. This raises serious concerns as it’s up by 7% from 2019.
• 12% of employees surveyed believe leadership in their workplace is “not at all committed” to culture and employee experience.

Lack of Recognition Is a Top Driver of Turnover

• “Lack of recognition” (19%) is one of the top-three reasons why employees are looking for or considering leaving their jobs, after compensation (52%) and career growth (43%).
• 82% of employees surveyed “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed that they wish they received more recognition at work, and another 30% of employees feel “not very” or “not at all” valued by superiors.
• When asked how their company or manager is at recognizing them, the top response given by employees surveyed was just “OK” (40%) and nearly one in five employees said their company or manager was “horrible” at recognizing them.

Employees Don’t Feel Heard 

• 90% of workers surveyed said they are more likely to stay at a company that takes and acts on feedback, but when asked how good their company was at soliciting feedback, 15% said “horrible” and 43% chose the second lowest grade — just “OK.”
• When it came to acting on feedback, nearly one in four (23%) said their employers were “horrible” and 44% said “OK.”
• Of those who said their employer is “horrible” at acting on feedback, nearly half (44%) plan to look for a new job, compared to the 28% of those who called their company “awesome.”