Is this the real reason why employees leave?

A leading academic discusses HR strategies and leadership approaches to support staff retention

Is this the real reason why employees leave?
Despite having good relationships with management, many employees in Australia are still leaving their jobs.

The reason?

Workers are more likely to quit because they found their work was unfulfilling, according to a new study launched by Facebook.

Data shows that those workers who use their strengths more often and feel they are gaining valuable career experience are less likely to leave for another job.

Lead researcher of Reventure, Dr Lindsay McMillan, said this research is the latest evidence that employees are looking for greater purpose and meaning at work.

Research by HR think tank Reventure as part of its national a future that works campaign found that 72% of Australian workers were looking for purpose and meaning in work.

Facebook implements an approach called 'job crafting' to stem the flow of star employees.  

“Carrying out a job with a fixed role description that actually contains the work you enjoy and excel at is almost akin to winning the lottery – it’s extremely unlikely,” Dr McMillan said.

“Our research has found that jobs need to be crafted around employees not the other way around."

McMillan added that job crafting reimagines roles according to employees’ strengths and what they are passionate about, which increases the level of purpose and meaning they feel at work.

“Give workers a purpose – this is a crucial element that management often overlooks when attempting to retain workers,” said Dr McMillan.

“Work has to be meaningful for employees to stay on long-term – some large organisations like Facebook understand this and are adopting initiatives like job crafting to keep their best workers.

“More organisations need to follow suit in order to avoid a high employee turnover in 2018.”


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