Why do new recruits leave a business?

When you bring new recruits into a company, you fully expect them to fit in and have a positive impact on the direction and success of your business. So it usually comes as a shock when one leaves so quickly.

Quick exits by new recruits can have a hugely negative effect on the running of your company – and we may have found the cause of it. In fact, recent research from CV-Library chalks it up to three specific reasons.
1) Unfriendly working environments – 51.2 per cent
2) Lack of opportunity for progression – 42.1 per cent
3) Being or feeling underpaid – 18.2 per cent

The research also found 41 per cent of new recruits decide whether to stay in a new job within the first week and 48.4 per cent still actively look for work for up to one month after starting a new role. With this in mind, we decided to have a look into these reasons in more depth and provide advice on how to minimise the risks.

Unfriendly work environments

An unfriendly work environment can be toxic for new recruits. From poor company culture, to a demoralised workforce, coming into this kind of workplace can cause many to second guess their decision and already start looking for an exit.
Ensuring your current workforce is happy and positive should be your main priority to combat this. Company culture can be improved by encouraging social events, workplace collaboration and empowering your employees to generate new ideas that make them feel like they are part of the business, not just another cog in the machine.
Alongside this, workplace benefits can work as an ideal way to keep your staff happy. It is extremely important to make sure your workforce feel valued; our research reveals that 88.9 per cent of staff believe employers should offer workplace perks, and that 48.1 per cent feel they are important when applying to a new job.
With this in mind, providing the right kind of workplace perks for your employees will help ensure that they are happy and will help create a positive work environment for your new hires to come in to.

Lack of progression
With 42.1 per cent of new recruits telling us a lack of progression opportunities would cause them to leave a new job, it is vital new employees feel like they can make a difference in their current role. And alongside this, setting out a clear a concise development plan can help ensure that new recruits can see their progression path in your business.
Workers don’t want to become stagnant in their job roles, and companies that don’t offer training are more likely to see their new recruits walk out the door. A huge 90.5 per cent of employees told us that they would be less likely to leave a company if it offered training, highlighting just how valuable learning is to today’s workers.
Ensuring that you provide the right progression paths and training schemes will mean that you should see new recruits remaining in your company, and developing into key talents that help drive the success of your workforce

Being or feeling underpaid
When new recruits start the job, they may feel that the job description wasn’t as clear as it should have been when it comes to the role and responsibilities. As such, they may now feel that they are taking on much more work than was initially expected and as a result feel that they are being underpaid. This can cause a lot of tension for new employees, and it is likely they may have their head turned by similar jobs in other companies that offer a more competitive wage.
To combat this ensure that your job postings are crystal clear on what is to be expected of the new recruit. This way you can avoid any unwanted surprises when they commence their employment. Alongside this, ensure that you are being competitive on salary; if this isn’t an option in your workplace, then try to offset the wage concerns with additional benefits, such as flexible working, or work from home days. In some cases, this will be appreciated by the new recruit and offset the pay issue.

Stop them leaving
The last thing anyone wants is a new hire to leave the company. They’ve been brought in because you clearly feel they can have a positive impact on the business. So ensuring that they are happy and content with the new job is extremely important. Having structured meetings and catch-ups with them will give them the time and space to raise any concerns they have, allowing you to try and resolve any issues that may lead to a new recruit leaving the business prematurely.

BY Lee Biggins