What is a flight risk? 

In HR & recruitment, flight risk refers to the likelihood that an employee will leave the company presumably for a better job opportunity elsewhere. The flight risk most often involves an increase in salary, but there are many other reasons.  These non-financial motivators for switching employers include having a difficult relationship with a colleague, unfavorable micromanagement and little to no hope of career progression or personal development.

 

How can a flight risk impact your company?

Flight risk employees are a huge financial danger to a company.  If they decide to leave, not only are they leaving an employer with an added workload to redistribute, but they are creating a considerable financial burden for the company.  Indeed, if the employee has been with you for a considerable length of time, they will have a good handle on your business, suppliers and many contacts which they will take with them to their new position.  The hiring process alone to find a replacement, can be costly as well as the difficult matter of finding another candidate with the experience you require, to step in and continue working at the level the last employee did.

Of course, there are many other scenarios where employees may decide to leave.  Some of these, such as relocating or retirement are unavoidable but, there are many factors that can increase an employee’s flight risk that an employer can control.  By considering the motivators which make employees unhappy in their role, an employer can mitigate the risk staff leaving.

 

How to identify a flight risk

The trick is to spot the reasons why employees are leaving their jobs and adapting to try and retain them. Here are a few pointers to consider:

• Competitive Salaries

Money talks and for an employee who works hard but doesn’t feel that their efforts are being gratified, they very quickly become a huge flight risk.   If a pay rise isn’t on the cards at the moment, consider implementing employee benefit schemes or a structured target with rewarding bonus at the end.

• Clear routes for career progression

Frustrated employees who see colleagues progressing in their careers or changing direction within a company when they are not, are another flight risk.  Offer personal development plans, options to gain further qualifications and be transparent with your employees.  Ask them what their goals are and try to help if you can.

• Minimise Stress

25% of all UK workers have said that their work or place of work has caused them stress in the past year. Employees often feel stressed because their workload is too much. A way to combat this is to get employees to tackle bigger tasks as a team instead of working individually. It’s best to let them decide amongst themselves how best to divide up the work as this also help great more autonomy. Many hands make light work.

• Managers

For some people a poor relationship with their manager is the number one reason they leave their job. There are many different reasons why people don’t get along with their manager. For instance, failing to recognise an employee’s quality of work, undermining the employees work performance, and toxic communication.  By encouraging your managers to offer constructive feedback or help, it will allow the employee to feel part of the team and will pave the way for a better working relationship.

• Keep things fresh

Monotonous tasks can make employees feel unstimulated and bored.  By doing the same things day in day out, many employees struggle to find motivation and actually end up being a lot less productive than if they have fresh, new and exciting tasks to complete.  Think about your workload and try to allow employees to do new things.

• Strengthen your company culture

A company is only as strong as it’s employees thus it is paramount that they feel valued and looked after.  Your company values should be clear and concise and by introducing things such as healthcare plans will help to show that your employees matter.

 

 

If you require further support with staffing, please feel free to contact Julie Pollock on 07858089006 or e-mail julie@consulthr.co.uk. Visit our website here: www.consulthr.co.uk