Flight risk: good workers now departing

In HR-speak, “flight risk” refers to the workers in your business who are most likely to quit their jobs, presumably for a better opportunity elsewhere. The term is usually used with reference to workers who perform mission-critical roles that your business can’t live without.

While there are times when the positives of a worker leaving can outweigh the negatives (think losing a toxic employee for example), no business likes losing good employees.

Flight risk often involves dissatisfaction with remuneration, but other reasons can prove equally compelling. Non-financial motivators for switching employers include:

• Adversarial relationships with managers and/or co-workers
• Lack of recognition
• Consistently repetitive or non-challenging work
• No or limited professional development opportunities
• Concerns about the employer’s financial stability

Data from Work Institute’s Retention Report estimates that it costs as much as 33% of a worker’s annual salary to replace them. When the formula is applied to the median Australian employee’s salary of $62,400, the average cost of turnover per employee comes out to over $20,000.

While seeking to retain every employee isn’t realistic (nor the best strategy for maximising employee potential), there’s little argument of the value of focusing your retention efforts on those workers who you really don’t wish to lose.  A tailored flight risk process identifies which employees are the most likely to leave your business, enabling you to make strategic decisions about whom to target for retention and where to invest in development opportunities.

Best time for an employer to put in place a flight risk mitigation process? Right now. The new year is a time when people often make resolutions; planning for what they wish to achieve in the future.  January is a time when a disproportionate number of your employees are likely to consider leaving their current jobs.

Employees who are a flight-risk can be detrimental to the health of your business. Bare Bones Consulting can help you identify which of your team members might be a flight risk and work with you to put in place a tailored plan to keep them operating at a high level with you for as long as possible. Like more info? Call us today or shoot us a message here and we’ll get right back to you.