26% of Indian workers at risk of leaving their current firm next year: Report
ABOUT 28 per cent of workers globally are contemplating a job change as they say they do not see themselves with their current employer within a year. This includes individuals actively on the lookout for new opportunities as well as those open to the idea of switching, as per a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
It is, therefore, more critical than ever for employers to prioritise and invest in understanding what matters to their employees, the report stated further.
The report further highlights that 26 per cent of the Indian employees surveyed are considering leaving their current employers by next year, making the task for employers in the country as challenging as it is for its global peers.
BCG's new employee satisfaction survey involved 11,000 employees in eight countries, including India, Australia, Japan, the US, the UK, Canada, France and Germany. In the survey, BCG tested over 20 different needs, with roughly half being functional needs such as pay, hours, and benefits, and the other half being emotional needs such as feeling valued and supported, and doing work you enjoy.
When asked directly what would drive them to take a new job, employees’ answers were focused on functional factors, with pay the overwhelming top choice, followed by benefits and perks, work/life balance, work they enjoy and care about, and better career learning opportunities.
"There is an urgent need for employers around the world to help their employees find the right balance between functional drivers such as pay and job hours, versus emotional factors such as workplace respect, fairness, and recognition," Neetu Chitkara, MD and Partner, Leader People & Organizational Practice, BCG India, said.
However, when employees were asked to make choices between different aspects of work — simulating a purchase decision — emotional needs crept into the top five. Pay and hours still dominated as the top two choices, but feeling fairly treated and respected, feeling like I have job security, and doing work I enjoy—all emotional needs—moved into third, fourth, and fifth places respectively.
According to BCG’s analysis of the survey data, the most powerful lever for delivering these emotional needs is managers. They have the most influence over their employees’ day-to-day experiences— whether positive or negative. In fact, great managers are associated with a 72 per cent reduction in attrition when comparing employees who are very satisfied with their managers with those who are very unsatisfied.
Further, strong dissatisfaction with managers was linked to a doubling of attrition risk, with 56 per cent of employees with that sentiment at risk, compared with a global average of 28 per cent.
The next three levers most correlated with satisfying employees’ emotional needs— among 300 different workplace characteristics ranging from upskilling opportunities to working model and leadership sentiment— were (1) supportive leaders, (2) access to resources to do one’s work, and (3) access to opportunity regardless of background.
All three had an impact very similar to having a great manager, when taken in isolation— and pulling all four levers together reduces attrition risk from the baseline global average by about two-thirds, from 28 per cent to 9 per cent.
