A recent survey of 4000 adults by Market researchers GfK NOP reveals that one in four staff are currently seeking a better job.

A quarter of all workers plan to change their jobs in the next year because of on-going pay and recruitment freezes, a new study says. More than one in eight plan to leave as soon as possible with a further one in 10 hoping to find new work within 12 months.

The findings show that employees have stopped “battening down the hatches” and their job plans could leave organisations vulnerable to the loss of highly-skilled key workers at a critical time for economic recovery.

The research also discovered that many organisations are still going through reorganisation and are continuing to restrict training programmes to save costs.

A third of those surveyed said morale at work is worse than last year.

Sukhi Ghataore, employee engagement specialist at GfK NOP, said “High attrition rates can be disastrous for any business, contributing to disengaged staff as well as higher operating and recruitment costs. Improving retention is vital for business stability and growth and ignoring these warning signs could hit the bottom line”

Many employers ignore staff retention to their cost – it has a major impact on the bottom line of any business when you consider the cost of replacing a key member of staff can be upwards of £15000 p.a. – taking into account loss of productivity when someone leaves, recruitment costs, training of new starter and their lower productivity and even replacement costs if the new employee doesn’t work out and the whole cycle has to start again.

Keeping current staff motivated is key – pay in particular is often used as a carrot to encourage workers to stay. However, this has far less influence on employees’ decision-making processes than career opportunities, being consulted and kept informed, and having faith in the business’s leadership. (Personnel Today)

It is also why it’s important to work closely with a specialist recruitment company who works in partnership with you when you do have to replace staff , so that you recruit the right person each time, who will fit with your team and your company ethos.

At Elementary Resources & AV Jobs we also offer additional services such as Psychometric Assessments and competency based testing as part of our recruitment services which can help define an even closer match for the person you need in your team.