Going by market statistics, employees are now looking for other incentives that motivate them to stay on. Of course, those intending to leave have already found what they want or the next step forward in their career. These are the ones who have planned their exit timeframe ahead of time, specifically to be around after they have received their bonus.
So, the question then is, what is driving employees to quit and, correspondingly, how can employers stop this trend and boost retention instead? Here are some areas that management might have overlooked:
Top Four Factors Driving Employees to Quit
- Lack of recognition: It is a fundamental human desire to be recognised for who we are and what we do. Recognition makes us feel good and appreciated. A lack thereof makes us feel neglected. It is this lack of recognition that is cited as the key reason for quitting for 28% of Singapore employees and 27% of Malaysia employees.
- Lack of re-skill and upskill support: Employees now expect significant re-skill and upskill opportunities from their employers. This is partly due to COVID-19, a trend that instilled how and why career agility is of greater importance for all. It is also partly due to the workforce being increasingly made up of Millennials and Gen Zs, both of which place greater emphasis on professional development and career growth.
Yet, this is still largely lacking. Out of 91% of Singaporean employees who want to learn new skills, only 1 in 4 received it in the past 12 months. As for Malaysian employees, while 97% expect additional training, only 1 in 3 have been given such opportunities. - Lack of career progression opportunities: Numerous surveys have found that many employees quit to look for better career progression opportunities elsewhere. Since this need is intimately tied to salary, not being considered for these opportunities signals stagnated growth. This is a powerful motivating reason to quit, considering how salary is consistently the most important value proposition to employees. Furthermore, the lack of opportunities are telling-signs to employees that the company is not invested in them and how they are easily replaceable.
- Lack of flexible work support: The majority of Singapore and Malaysia employees prefer remote or hybrid working arrangements. Whether it is four-day work week, out of office operations, or a hybrid configuration, employees want work flexibility because of its benefits, such as improved work-life balance, mental wellbeing, and boost in productivity. 4 in 10 surveyed Singaporean employees would also give up a bigger bonus for remote work. Despite the pandemic demonstrating that many job roles can be performed remotely or in some other flexible work capacity, most businesses now insist that the workforce must return to the office and work traditional hours.
Boosting Employee Retention with Access HRIS
To better manage the lack of support that results in post-bonus resignations, employers must fully address the top four factors that are driving employees to quit. Employers can leverage The Access Group’s suite of HRIS solutions and the following features to achieve this:
Show Due Recognition
When it comes to showing recognition to employees, employers can use Access Applause to not just facilitate the showing of recognition from a top-down level, but also at a peer-to-peer level so as to foster a culture of gratitude. Access Applause works like a social media platform where anyone can easily give a ‘shout’ to co-workers to acknowledge a job well done or thank them for their efforts. This can be performed from any device at their discretion. Employers can also reward employees who accumulated certain amounts of ‘shouts’ to motivate performance.
Provide Re-skill and Upskill Support
When it comes to enhancing skill sets for the workforce, employers can look at personnel insights to help pinpoint their growth and engagement in the workplace. With these data-driven feeds, custom training paths can be created for each employee to help measure progress and receive automatic notifications should anyone fall behind in their training.
The tracking of employees’ re-skilling/upskilling development can also be coupled with the Performance Appraisal feature to help employers ensure that the correct career progression opportunities are identified and provided.
Develop Career Progression Opportunities
In many cases, it is not that employers do not want to provide ample career progression opportunities for employees. Instead, it is because they are unattuned to what employees want. Performance Appraisal helps create this necessary alignment as it helps:
- Enable both parties to work together in setting, tracking, and achieving career goals, performance targets, and professional traits
- Schedule regular and timely career progression tracking and performance reviews
- Give employers a more accurate view of employee performance through the collection of on-the-ground peer feedback
With Performance Appraisal, employers are better equipped to ensure that the right people receive career progression opportunities that they need.
Deploy Flexible Work Arrangements
On the flexible work front, employers can tap on features, such as Employee Self Service (ESS) and Expense Management, to facilitate remote and hybrid working options. Both work in synergy to eliminate the need for employees to return to the office just to process menial administrative tasks. For example, ESS enables employees to manage their leaves and download payslips conveniently and remotely, while Expense Management provides employees with the means to submit claims via smartphones.
Check Organisation’s Pulse
It is always good to check on the effects of implementing HRIS in business operations as it can help identify other problem areas within the organisation. Business owners can achieve this via Pulse Surveys. These are short surveys that are sent out to employees regularly for getting their feedback on the overall work environment. Relevant actions can be taken promptly while employees are given the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns anonymously. This will help make them feel heard and valued to some degree.
Businesses that use these HR solutions will not just reduce post-bonus turn-over among personnel, but resignations in general as they are designed to boost employee retention by addressing employees’ main concerns. In fact, the business advantages that The Access Group HRIS offers will ensure businesses can do more than just boosting employee retention.
Find out more about Access HRIS and gain a better understanding on how it helps address workforce demands and what your businesses can do to get ahead of this transformative curve.