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Employee retention rates<\/a> just keep climbing, per a new report<\/a> called the Employee Retention Index from Eagle Hill Consulting. The six-month outlook this quarter is the strongest it\u2019s been in 18 months, Eagle Hill found, overtaking the previous record from early 2023 and suggesting workers will remain where they are through the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n That should be \u201cwelcome news\u201d for the employers who have spent the past few years bemoaning their uphill battle against turnover, according to Melissa Jezior, Eagle Hill\u2019s CEO. Indeed, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics\u2019 July update<\/a>, quits have been down 550,000 year-over-year, holding steady<\/a> at 2.2%. The hospitality industry\u2014and other sectors with historically low pay\u2014continue to struggle<\/a> with retention most.<\/p>\n But in the white collar world, people are mainly sticking around because they have more faith in their companies and leaders \u2014or, in Eagle Hill\u2019s words\u2014have \u201corganizational confidence.\u201d (Historically, that metric has been the most volatile.) Workers are also becoming more optimistic than ever about their jobs\u2019 culture (up 7% year-over-year) and their own compensation (up 6%).\u00a0<\/p>\n Even despite reports showing ample opportunities<\/a> for job seekers\u2014and the perennial knowledge that a job hop is often the more surefire way of securing a raise<\/a>\u2014job security is simply too important for most workers to consider the alternative. That\u2019s especially true at companies where flexibility and work-life balance<\/a> are top priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWith employees staying put, organizations need to make the most of this quiet period to develop their people, drive innovation, and thrive in a tight talent market,\u201d Jonathan Gove, Eagle Hill\u2019s senior human capital director, wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis is the ideal time for leaders to strategically address their workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n Many firms that heretofore had struggled<\/a> to keep people onboard have taken Gove\u2019s message to heart, cementing worker preferences and needs above other strategic objectives.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2022, corporate well-being platform Gympass instated a \u201cwork from where you prefer\u201d policy, which let their workers self-select their hybrid work arrangement. It led to a 69% drop in voluntary employee turnover. \u201cWe prioritize well-being as one of the key pillars, the same as you would prioritize, for example, profits,\u201d L\u00edvia de Bastos Martini, Gympass\u2019s chief people officer, told Fortune<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Such programs are not set-it-and-forget-it, Gympass\u2019s cofounder and CEO, Cesar Carvalho, told Fortune<\/em><\/a> last year, and the onus is on employers to continue iterating and meeting workers where they are.\u00a0<\/p>\n The story is much the same in retail. Workers \u201csuddenly became very scarce\u201d at Ikea parent Inter Ikea Group, CEO Jon Abrahamsson Ring recounted recently<\/a>. So his team focused on the big picture items: Better pay and more flexibility. The efforts led to a new low of 25% voluntary turnover by the end of 2023; a year earlier, one-third of employees quit voluntarily.\u00a0<\/p>\n Taking it a step further, a four-day-workweek pilot in the U.K.<\/a> led to nearly 40% reduction in turnover in the 14-month time frame\u2014and a 53% uptick in job applications to boot.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSome managers have found that the process of designing and delivering a four-day week trial has acted as a catalyst for further creativity, transformation, and innovation,\u201d a report on the pilot <\/a>reads. \u201cColleagues have improved the efficiency of working practices within teams, used communication tools differently, and as colleagues have ownership of the trial, they have reported feeling valued and finding increased confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nFlexibility is the answer<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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