Employee lifecycle failures – why are organisations losing their best employees?

A job for life is now a fairly outdated concept, and in today’s professional environment, this means that organisations are often left battling against high employee turnover, costing millions of pounds, across the majority of sectors.

Whilst fresh faces with new ideas bring obvious benefits, recruiting and onboarding new team members can be a heavy cost for an organisation to continually bear. In fact, studies show that the true cost of taking on new employees is likely to be more than double the average UK salary.

However, organisations are making costly mistakes in their employee lifecycle strategies – both by missing key steps in attracting and retaining the best employees and by not taking a holistic view of the overall employee lifecycle.

Poor engagement at any one of these stages can lead to costly employee turnover. High turnover can then become a vicious circle, lowering morale and productivity amongst the rest of your team, and causing them to wonder if they can find a better position elsewhere.

What does a failing employee lifecycle look like?

Attraction – negative reviews from existing employees have the power to break your reputation as a good employer. In addition, with so much choice available in the job market, failing to stay ahead of the curve as to what employees expect from a modern workplace can also reduce the breadth of your talent pool.

Recruitment – investing time in the wrong applicants can consume a huge percentage of your recruitment budget. Whilst attempting to make a role seem appealing, an inflated impression of a role can easily be taken from recruitment advertising. And this can attract applicants looking for something slightly different than what the job will actually entail.

Onboarding – giving a new employee a bad first impression can set a terrible precedent. Common mistakes include failing to introduce your new hire to key members of the team, lack of support or direction, and not agreeing the expectations of both parties. Unfortunately, these mistakes are easily made and can quickly deflate your new employee’s initial excitement, causing them to wonder whether they’ve made the right decision in joining your business.

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Development – full of ambition and enthusiasm for their new venture, your new starter needs to know you’re willing to help them get to where they want to be – both in their new role and beyond. Stagnant progress, empty promises and lofty plans could push them to consider looking for bigger and better prospects in the job search they recently left behind.

Retention – when the ‘new job’ honeymoon is over, and the sheen of taking on new challenges has faded, your employees are at high risk of complacency. This can be toxic to the wider team, and time-consuming to manage. Similarly, the job market is moving quickly, and a new start with a different employer could start to look enticing.

Exit – if your employee decides to move on, leaving on poor terms without fully understanding why is your absolute worst-case scenario. Not only is the lack of closure unhealthy for everyone involved, bad blood from a departing employee could lead to data theft or data leakage, also risking negatively effecting the wider team.

So, how can organisations avoid these common pitfalls, and improve their employee lifecyle? Our new Insight Guide can help.

Keep an eye out for our new guide, which will be launching in the next few weeks, revealing our top tips on building a culture that encourages your best talent to stay.

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Stephanie Coward

Managing Director, HCM

Stephanie Coward is Managing Director for HCM at IRIS, where she leads the strategy, innovation and growth of the organisation’s HR and payroll portfolio. She is responsible for positioning IRIS as a trusted partner to HR professionals and ensuring its solutions support the evolving needs of modern workforces.

With more than 25 years’ experience in the technology sector, Stephanie brings deep commercial and operational expertise, with a passion for improving the employee experience through technology.

Stephanie is committed to advancing IRIS’ HCM offering and helping organisations build more resilient, empowered workforces.