Employee Future Intentions

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Did you know that, on average, 19% of employees want to leave their organisation?

This is the second part of a 3-part BPA series that explores how to cut employee turnover.

This part will look at what’s involved in predicting your future turnover

First of all, about 3-4% of regular turnover is unavoidable. People are strongly connected to their colleagues and to the organisation, and they are not constantly thinking that they want to leave. They may be leaving for a reason that the organisation cannot influence – for example, retirement, relocation, or sometimes, career progression.

So, let’s just focus on Avoidable Turnover. 

On average 19% of employees want to leave.

We call this group ‘The Turnover Zone’.

They meet all 4 of the following criteria.

  1. They often think of leaving and quite a few have already decided to leave; plus

  2. They have a poor connection with the organisation; plus

  3. They don’t have a strong social connection among the people they work with (their team, their colleagues and their manager); plus

  4. They have already started to develop a narrative to explain why they are leaving.

On average, 54% of employees see their working life as the total opposite.

Unsurprisingly, we call this group ‘The Retention Zone’.

They meet all 4 of an opposite set of criteria.

  1. They barely give a thought to leaving; plus

  2. They feel a strong engagement with the organisation; plus

  3. They feel a strong social cohesion with their work colleagues; plus

  4. They are very focused on the intangible benefits they receive from their work and their organisation.

Sometimes, some of this group will leave the organisation, but it’s mostly for unavoidable reasons.

On average, the remaining 27% of employees are conflicted about whether to stay or to leave.

We call this group ‘The At Risk Zone’.

They meet some, but not all, of the criteria of the other Zones.
This is where the battle to manage turnover will be won or lost.

The more you lose the battle within this Zone, the higher your Annual Turnover will grow, and as the Employee Turnover Costs table shows (see BPA’s previous post), the costlier your defeats will become.

In part 3 of this series, you will see that the motivators and demotivators for the At Risk Zone are significantly different to those of the other Zones.

And therein will lie your strategies to shift some of the At Risk Zone into the Retention Zone, and even weaken the hold that the Turnover Zone has over its 19%.

Imagine, knowing the split of Zones for each work unit in your organisation. It gives you a starting point for addressing your turnover.