Employees who left their jobs within the first year share the top reasons they quit

Internal employer branding is an overlooked asset to clamp down on attrition.

According to recent Korn Ferry research, employees often feel that how hiring managers present the role and company during the interview process falls short of actuality once they’ve joined the organization, resulting in turnover early in their tenure. Employees who left in the first six to twelve months cited reasons like feeling out of sync with the company’s culture or mission, not understanding the employee’s impact, and discovering that their tasks or responsibilities were not as described.

Korn Ferry noticed this trend with its clients when examining why employees left within their first year at a new job.

“Employees weren’t really understanding: What is the brand of the company that I’m working for? What is the value proposition, as an employee, that’s available to me?” Says Jacob Zabkowicz, vice president and general manager of global recruitment process outsourcing at Korn Ferry and report coauthor. During the onboarding phase, he says, companies must move beyond operational procedures like collecting I-9s and W-2s and ensure new hires understand what it means to work for the company.

Focus on the “employee value proposition” (EVP), Zabkowicz says, or what makes the company a great place to work. The EVP should be updated frequently, realistic, and avoid overselling the job or company culture.

As for employer branding, organizations can improve how they market themselves to job candidates by focusing on three key areas:

1. Know what is important to your employees and cater to those values. This can include volunteering opportunities or philanthropic donations, benefits offerings, flexible work arrangements, employee resource groups, and community service. 

2. Align your employees’ values with the company’s values. In other words, ensuring that what candidates are sold on is integral to the company’s business strategy and mission.

3. Communicate these values to your employees repeatedly.  Some examples include promoting employee benefits offerings outside the open enrollment period or marketing ERGs and volunteer opportunities internally.

While external employer brand marketing is important, Zabkowicz warns that internal branding is just as crucial. “Companies can offer a good brand to the consumer market, but let’s focus on the employee brand and how that will retain individuals,” he says.

Paige McGlauflin
[email protected]
@paidion

Reporter's Notebook

The most compelling data, quotes, and insights from the field.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun has taken over 400 private jet trips from one of his two homes in South Carolina and New Hampshire since joining the company three years ago. On average, he only commutes to the aerospace manufacturer's Arlington headquarters once or twice a month, according to the Wall Street Journal.

While it’s not unheard of for a CEO to live and work far from company headquarters, Calhoun’s commute clashes with his return-to-office messaging to rank-and-file employees, who are expected back in the office at least part of the week. “If you want people to come back and you’re not doing it, that really undermines the message,” Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, tells the Journal. 

Around the Table

A round-up of the most important HR headlines.

- The number of college-educated employees who feel their employment is threatened by generative A.I. Has more than doubled in the past two years. Bloomberg

- A former managing director is going viral for a habit of only hiring applicants who offered to take their coffee cup to the kitchen once the interview was over. Insider

- Strikes were remarkably successful this summer in industries without enough talent. That could inspire a domino effect of collective action. Wall Street Journal

Watercooler

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RTO (retirement to office). Boomers are leaving the quiet life of retirement and returning to the workforce in droves, according to a new jobs report. Almost half of retirees are looking for work again, and inflation concerns and boredom are likely to blame. —Jane Thier

Slamming the brakes. Just hours into his stint as CEO of logistics company Flexport, Ryan Petersen rescinded dozens of job offers for employees scheduled to start within days. He’s since apologized amid criticism. —Chloe Taylor

Unexpected union winner. It's unlikely that the United Auto Workers union and Detroit's Big 3 automakers will finalize negotiations before Friday’s strike deadline. That would be a blessing for Elon Musk and his historically anti-union Tesla. —Steve Mollman