Worldwide, the following are the statistics that reflect the cause of attrition in the industry. The study is based on a sample of 3149 employees, appropriately categorized into the four employee needs as :
1. The Need for Trust: Expecting the company and management to
deliver on its promises, to be honest and open in all communications
with you, to invest in you, to treat you fairly, and to compensate
you fairly and on time.
2. The Need to Have Hope: Believing that you will be able to grow,
develop your skills on the job and through training, and have the
opportunity for advancement or career progress leading to higher
earnings.
3. The Need to Feel a Sense of Worth: Feeling confident that if you
work hard, do your best, demonstrate commitment, and make
meaningful contributions, you will be recognized and rewarded
accordingly. Feeling worthy also means that you will be shown
respect and regarded as a valued asset, not as a cost, to the organization.
4. The Need to Feel Competent: Expecting that you will be matched
to a job that makes good use of your talents and is challenging,
receive the necessary training to perform the job capably, see the
end results of your work, and obtain regular feedback on your
performance.
On being asked the question, "Why do you want to leave?", the answers were mostly in tandem and could be categorized into the following 20 reasons.
1. Limited Career Growth or Promotional Opportunity (16 percent),
indicating a lack of hope.
2. Lack of Respect from or Support by Supervisor (13 percent),
indicating a lack of trust or confidence.
3. Compensation (12 percent),
indicating an issue of worth or value.
4. Job Duties Boring or Unchallenging (11 percent),
indicating a lack of competence and fulfillment in the work itself.
5. Supervisor’s Lack of Leadership Skills (9 percent),
indicating a lack of trust and confidence.
6. Work Hours (6 percent), including comments ranging from undesirable
work schedule, to inflexibility, to overtime (too much or
too little), to undesirable shift—reasons
indicating a lack of worth,inasmuch as the organization, in their minds, did not view their satisfaction as important enough to warrant a change.
7. Unavoidable Reasons (5 percent), generally considered unpreventable
by the organization and including excessive commuting distance,
retirement, birth of a child, child-care issues, relocation,
other family issues, career change, too much travel, return to
school, and death or illness in the family.
8. Lack of Recognition (4 percent),
indicating a lack of worth.
9. Favoritism by Supervisor (4 percent),
indicating a lack of trust.
10. Supervisor’s Poor Employee Relations (4 percent),
indicating a lack of trust.
11. Poor Working Conditions (3 percent),
pertaining mostly to undesirable physical conditions, indicating a lack of worth.
12. Training (3 percent), pertaining mostly to insufficient offerings,
poorly conducted training, or the denial of permission to attend
training—all indicating the lack of perceived worth.
13. Supervisor’s Incompetence (2 percent),
indicating a lack of trust and confidence.
14. Poor Senior Leadership (2 percent), same reasons as those given for
next level management, plus lack of clear vision or direction—
indicating a lack of trust or confidence.
15. Supervisor’s Lack of Technical Skills (1 percent),
indicating a lack of trust and confidence.
16. Discrimination (1 percent), indicating a lack of trust and hope.
17. Harassment (1 percent), indicating a lack of trust.
18. Benefits (1 percent), indicating a lack of worth.
19. Coworkers’ Attitude (1 percent), indicating a lack of trust.
These encompass all the possible reasons and there is very little other than these that may be responsible for attrition.
Generally, the supervisor is the one who is held responsible... remember the quote..'People do not leave jobs but their bosses'. There are times where ppl leave even without new opportunities at hand.
Also, HR needs to concentrate on the cases where attrition is due to JDs not been communicated or designed properly or KRAs have been designed without appropriate vision and framework.
Apart from these, if more than 20% of the attrites are joining the same organisation / group, you have a major poaching issue at hand. This needs to be solved at a legal level or in appropriate discussion with the so-called poacher.
Hope this helps.
Regards.