January 13, 2021
In the aftermath of COVID-19 and the subsequent recession, the costs implicit with high turnover rates are all the more harmful to businesses. Employee retention must be a top concern for employers, especially at the beginning of the year.
This January in particular, tensions might be running higher than normal due to mainstream politics. We’re seeing sentiment like the below through our kiosks – that it might be best not to have any particular news channel on in the workplace environment.
Temptation to Leave
With the cost of replacing an hourly worker averaging $3,328, but sometimes reaching as high as $7,000, it is evident that employee turnover costs are a serious burden on frontline businesses. Managers must also prepare for the reality that January is the most popular month for employees to start searching for another job.
Jeffery Marino, a writer for ZipRecruiter, states that job applications increase by 20 to 30 percent every year in the month of January due to those looking for changes in the new year. In other cases, employees simply wait until they receive holiday bonuses to jump ship.
Employers must recognize that because of this new influx of job seekers, openings do not always match up perfectly, creating frictional unemployment in the first weeks of the new year.
Accordingly, an article published by Glassdoor explains that “the New Year is a time when lots of people resolve to find a new job.” By the time February rolls around, “workers are shuffling to new jobs, creating openings that organizations need to fill.”
In fact, according to a study completed in the United Kingdom, the most popular day of the year for an employee to quit is the end of the month—January 31. After returning from work after the holidays, some employees continue to endure for the month, but once they again become disillusioned with their job, managers have more difficulty in convincing employees to stay.
Time to Change
January is therefore the most important time of year for managers to start concerning themselves with employee retention. If morale is not as high as it should be, if disputes keep erupting, and if a positive and enjoyable work culture is not present, January is the ideal time to start making those changes.
Qlicket is the perfect solution for managers to introduce welcome changes after the holidays. Qlicket offers methods of increasing retention and boosting morale by allowing employees to be heard in real time. This allows managers to know and address problems that may push employees away. An excellent New Year’s resolution for any business is improving employee retention with Qlicket.
Written by Qlicket team member Ethan Forde.
