How Misaligned Career and Pay Expectations Fuel Employee Turnover – What Can HR Do?

As someone who specializes in retention, one of the most common problems is when both the candidate (future employee) and the company have failed to establish each other's expectations regarding career progression and the rate of pay increase.

Having joined the firm, the employee discovers after 6 months to a year that their expectations are not likely to be met. The timeframe is much slower than they expected, leading them to start searching for another job and eventually leave the firm, which then has to recruit someone else. Given the high cost of employee turnover, this pattern is very inefficient for the firm.

So, next time you are recruiting, take care to ask candidates about their expectations in case they differ somewhat from what you can reasonably offer. In the long run, it will save you money.

Regards, Col
colbrown.co.uk

I have seen more often than not, it is managerial problems that cause an employee to leave. When a person is recruited, usually a company would gather enough information about the candidate's skill set and experience before recruiting.

Defining Expectations During Recruitment

Don't you think it would be difficult to define the expectations from an employee and vice versa when a candidate is being recruited? Moreover, part of the reason for employee turnover is also the fact that employees simply grow out of a job. They become better and seek better challenges and opportunities. Perhaps this is where an HR department becomes crucial, to identify those employees and promote them to more suitable jobs.

The Role of Orientation and Training in Retention

Orientation and training can also play a vital role in retention. Most employees would expect their companies to invest in their career development and skill set improvement.

But yes, I completely agree that retention is better than having to recruit another person. It will save money definitely.

I have seen more often than not it is managerial problems that cause an employee to leave. When a person is recruited, usually a company gathers enough information about the candidate's skillset and experience before recruiting. Don't you think it would be difficult to define the expectations from an employee and vice versa when a candidate is being recruited? Moreover, part of the reason for employee turnover is also the fact that employees simply grow out of a job. They become better and seek better challenges and opportunities. Perhaps this is where an HR department becomes crucial: to identify those employees and promote them to more suitable jobs.

Orientation and training

Orientation and training can probably also play a vital role in retention. Most employees would expect their companies to invest in their career development and skillset improvement. But yes, I completely agree that retention is better than having to recruit another person. It will save money, definitely.

Yes, the relationship between the manager and the employee is, in many cases, the single most important factor in determining the state of the individual's everyday experience. A poor relationship will often cause an employee to leave. As you point out, people grow out of jobs, but they do so at different rates: ambitious people want to move up very quickly, while others are happy to stay in a post for two or more years.

Some firms make the mistake of hiring exceptional candidates without thinking about whether such a candidate will actually be prepared to sit around waiting for promotion. The answer is no, they won't. They will leave. So hiring graduates for non-graduate jobs is dangerous territory. Hiring MBAs for dull managerial positions is often an expensive blunder.

Expectations matter.

Col
www.colbrown.co.uk