When considering the most important factors that make or break companies nowadays, employee retention has been, is, and will be among the most essential ones.
Among other things, losing employees can bring about losses in productivity, lower morale in remaining team members, and losses in crucial institutional knowledge.
That’s exactly why almost every organization places huge importance on employee retention and also why employee retention statistics are a great place to start examining its importance.
To help you craft the best possible strategy for your organization, here is our list of incredible stats and facts on employee retention. Feel free to use these at your leisure to ensure your winning team stays together for the long term.
Top Employee Retention Stats: Editor’s Choice
- Close to 35% of workers would consider offers from other companies if they didn’t receive a raise over the next year.
- Losing a good employee can rack up a cost of more than $250,000 for your company.
- Attrition statistics show nearly three million Americans quit their jobs every month.
- Incorporating e-learning into the company’s onboarding process can increase employee retention rate by up to 60%.
- Businesses that are highly engaged could reduce their employee turnover by 59%, statistics on employee retention in the U.S. reveal.
- 41% of workers consider job security as the number one reason to stay with a company.
- Companies that support remote work have 25% lower employee turnover than companies that don’t.
Employee Retention in Business Statistics
Welcoming new workers to your organization is an awesome thing. However, it’s a real bummer to have to say goodbye to high-performing, trusted team members.
While it can be extremely challenging, having the right employee retention strategies is crucial to securing your top talent’s loyalty.
For now, let’s see what the statistics on keeping a job have to say and get valuable insights from them.
1. Close to 35% of workers would consider offers from other companies if they didn’t receive a raise over the next year.
There are numerous reasons to start searching for a new job. But it may come as a surprise to learn that over one-third of employees would consider offers from other companies if they didn’t receive a raise in the next year.
What’s more, employee retention stats reveal that companies with the strongest culture are the most sought-after. This factor makes all the difference when considering similar offers from companies where salaries are close or equal.
2. Losing a good employee can rack up a cost of more than $250,000 for your company.
As far as employee turnover and retention statistics go, it’s staggering to see just how much losing a good employee can end up costing your organization. And while there are myriad reasons why good employees leave, the loss always takes its toll.
A recent study established that saying goodbye to a worker can cost anywhere between 16% and 213% of their hourly rate depending on their training level.
To put that into perspective, imagine that an executive who makes $120,000 per year leaves your organization; the true loss to the company could go as high as $255,600.
3. Employees who experience career progression are 20% more likely to stay in their companies.
Statistics on employee development and retention put career advancement under the spotlight as yet another crucial factor that helps companies create better and longer-lasting teams.
Recent employee loyalty statistics suggest that employees are 20% more likely to stay in their companies in one year’s time if they feel they are progressing in their careers.
At the same time, more than 70% of high-retention-risk employees say they’ll be forced to leave their organization to advance their careers.
4. Close to three million Americans quit their jobs every month, employee retention statistics reveal.
When observing the statistics on employee retention rates in the US, it is impossible to ignore the fact that nearly three million Americans quit their jobs every month.
To be more precise, three and a half million employees have left their job voluntarily every month since January 2019. And that figure doesn’t include layoffs or any other types of involuntary termination!
While people quit their jobs for different reasons, these employee retention rate statistics speak to the magnitude of the retention issue many organizations face.
A better understanding of these reasons translates into keeping great employees in your organization for longer.
5. Incorporating e-learning into the company’s onboarding process can increase employee retention rate by up to 60%.
With the advancement in technology, companies can now take their onboarding process to the next level and increase their chances of retaining new hires.
An onboarding process that involves e-learning increases the job retention rate by up 60%, the Research Institute of America found.
E-learning allows the participants to go back to the training modules as they need to, thus providing them more control of their learning process.
This is probably one of the reasons why 56% of employees are interested in online courses if their managers offer them.
6. A low employee retention in America will cost over $430 billion in annual losses by 2030.
The U.S. is among the countries with the highest year-over-year growth in staff shortages. If this trend continues, the nation is highly to suffer financially. By 2030, this shrinking of talents is forecast to result in about $435.7 billion in losses annually.
This should serve as a wake-up call for American employers to revisit their employee retention data and invest early in their workforce retention programs to avoid incurring such losses in the future.
7. The retail & wholesale industry has the highest average turnover rate, accounting for 60.5%.
As far as the employee retention rates by industry are concerned, data show the retail and wholesale industry has the lowest.
Among the different organizations surveyed, this industry was found to have the highest turnover rate of 60.5%. This leads us to the conclusion that employers from this sector struggle the most in keeping their talents.
Employee Engagement and Retention Statistics
8. 38% of employees are engaged amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The recent Gallup statistics on employee retention and work-from-home disclose engagement has reached a new high record. The poll results show that as much as 38% of employees are highly engaged.
This was amid the dramatic drop in America’s well-being that was aggravated by the pandemic. Employers’ response to COVID-19 and unemployment were possible reasons for this surge.
9. Businesses that are highly engaged could reduce their employee turnover by 59%.
Many studies have established a positive relationship between employee engagement and retention. That means a highly engaged employee contributes to a higher employee retention rate.
Engaged employees are also 87% less likely to look for another job. That said, it is imperative for employers to know how to keep their staff highly engaged at all times.
10. Hiring from the top 20% of the candidate pool leads to lower turnover rates and a healthy culture.
Looking at some key employee engagement and retention stats, we can see that companies see 59% less turnover, 21% higher profitability, 17% higher productivity, and 41% less absenteeism when they hire from the top 20% of their candidate pool.
At the same time, for this to happen, companies need positive word-of-mouth and a strong reputation to attract talent from the top 20% of their pool.
This is particularly important when we consider that 71% of workers use referrals from current employers to learn about an organization.
11. Nearly 60% of employees don’t feel very motivated to do their jobs.
One of the key facts about employee retention highlights a worrying trend in workplaces around the world.
When asked about their job motivation, the sentiment of a recent survey’s 59.9% of respondents was lukewarm at best. Answers varied between “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” and “somewhat satisfied.”
The same employee engagement statistics found that an increasingly larger number of workers are not highly engaged in their current roles.
Furthermore, 22.2% of respondents (more than one in five) felt either “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with their current jobs. Conversely, people who say they are very happy with their jobs are few (only 17.9%).
12. 23% of workers in the US feel burnt out at work “very often or always.”
According to a recent study of full-time employees, burnout contributes greatly to the disengagement epidemic we see today. In another example of shocking statistics about employee retention, 23% of full-time employees in the US feel burned out at work “very often or always.”
To make matters worse, a significant 44% claim they “sometimes” feel burned out. Overall, this translates into two out of three US workers feeling professionally burned out at least part of the time.
Moreover, burned-out employees are 63% more likely to take sick days – leading to absenteeism – and three times as likely to look for a new job.
Employee Turnover Statistics
13. In December 2020, the national average turnover rate was 3.8%.
Although the figure is still preliminary, it shows the employee turnover in December last year is similar to that in December 2019.
But if we look at the employee turnover data for the entire of 2020, the significant hikes in the months of March (9.7%) and April (7.6%) are noticeable. This is apparently due to the coronavirus outbreak.
14. 41% of workers consider job security as the number one reason to stay with a company.
Statistics on good employee retention reveal job security as another hugely important factor to bear in mind. Based on a study with a sample size exceeding 31,000 workers, one of the findings identifies job security as the “second-most frequently selected driver of attraction across all age groups.”
In other words, employees may start looking for another workplace if they don’t see a stable future in your organization.
15. Workers that don’t feel recognized when they do great work are almost two times as likely to look for a new job.
The statistics on employee retention warn that not recognizing workers’ efforts can skyrocket employee turnover.
A report from TINYpulse reveals that 21.5% of workers who don’t feel recognized when they do great work have interviewed for a job in the last three months, compared to only 12.4% of those who do feel recognized.
Not only do employees have a right to seek validation for their efforts, but they’re more likely to show their loyalty when they’re validated.
16. Employee retention facts reveal nearly 47% of all employees cite company culture as the primary reason they are looking for new jobs.
Workplace culture is among the most important factors for employee retention. In fact, it’s right up there with salary, work-life balance, and meaningfulness.
At the same time, nearly half (47%) of all employees continue to be unhappy with the company culture at their current work.
Moreover, statistics about employee retention suggest organizations can reduce employee turnover by as much as 57% when employees participate in corporate giving and volunteering efforts.
Unfortunately, only 38% of employees state their company currently offers coordinated or sponsored volunteer programs.
Employee Benefits and Retention Statistics
17. Companies that offer comprehensive training have 218% higher income per employee.
Training and employee retention statistics suggest one of the smartest decisions a company can make is to invest in its own employees. There are numerous benefits of providing extensive training for your workers, one of them being enhanced retention.
These employment turnover statistics tell us even more about the benefits of training workers. Compared to organizations that spend less on training, such companies have a 24% higher profit margin, as well as a higher income per employee (by as much as a whopping 218%).
And it doesn’t end there, either. Companies that increase training expenditure by $680 per employee generate a 6% higher shareholder return.
18. Employee retention statistics reveal that companies that support remote work have 25% lower employee turnover than companies that don’t.
Emphasizing support for a remote work program has proven to have a meaningful impact on employee retention.
The good employee retention stats from a collaborative research project between TINYpulse and Owl Labs show there are numerous ways that remote work can improve the employee experience.
Examples include a flexible work schedule with an occasional ad-hoc remote day, as well as a more permanent work arrangement.
Often enough, this kind of setup could be what sets your organization apart. What’s more, remote work can make it possible to attract and keep great employees, thereby improving job retention rates.
Key Takeaways
Seeing some of these numbers in black and white might daunt you at first, but keep in mind they’re not all that bad.
In order to achieve success and minimize employee turnover, your first challenge is to understand the driving forces behind employee behavior.
Then you’ll just need to pair that knowledge with a positive work environment and voilà – your organization’s all set! That is exactly where the latest statistics on employee retention come in.
They give you the insight you need to make smart decisions that keep employees loyal for years.
Use our guide and the numbers in it, come up with a way to boost your employee retention rates, and watch your organization evolve into a genuine community rather than a mere workplace.
Frequently Asked Questions
Around 90% is a good rate to retain employment. At the same time, this also means your average employer turnover rate should be 10%. This is because the 10% that are leaving should ideally be mostly low performers.
Those employees can easily be replaced with high-performing and engaged team members. Conversely, if the 10% that are leaving are high performers, you’ll need to spend more on replacing them.
Retaining a motivated and positive employee is hugely important for the success of the organization. A high average turnover rate not only has a negative impact on the organization’s morale but also increases its expenses.
If you’ve managed to recruit hard-working, happy, motivated, and productive individuals who bring energy to your office and love overcoming challenges, your organization will soar.
However, if one or more of these employees were to suddenly start thinking about accepting an offer from another company, losing them could spell trouble for you in many ways.
Employee retention and wellbeing statistics cite a number of ways to remedy this kind of situation. Showing your workers you care, rewarding them, communicating with them, investing in their careers, their training, improving their work-life balance, and so much more.
Feel free to refer to any of the aforementioned stats to craft your very own retention strategy.
There are many strategies for retaining an employee, and their personality will dictate which ones to implement. Consider some of the following when trying to keep a worker happy with their job.
Giving more responsibility to an employee can show that you trust and value their efforts. Alternatively, you can share a percentage of revenue from successful projects.
That said, employee retention statistics remind us that rewards for success need not be strictly monetary. Public recognition, lunches, service projects, company/department parties, and logo clothing are other ideas worth considering.