Why can our overall turnover look fine while younger and newer immigrant employees keep leaving?
Your overall turnover can look fine while younger and newer immigrant employees keep leaving because an organization-wide rate averages together groups whose experiences differ. If most employees stay for years, a smaller group leaving within their first months can barely move the overall number. Why do good employees keep leaving when we pay competitively? covers why separating the number by group matters more generally.
Some difference by age is expected. Across the U.S. labor market, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the median tenure of workers ages 55 to 64 (9.6 years) is more than three times that of workers ages 25 to 34 (3.0 years). That doesn't tell you why your own employees leave, and it doesn't mean their leaving has nothing to teach you. The more useful comparison is inside your organization: whether people in the same roles stay longer on some teams, shifts, or sites than others, and whether employees leave at a particular point, such as the first 90 days.
What should we look at in the first months on the job?
In the first months on the job, look at whether your onboarding, supervision, and working conditions assume knowledge, resources, or circumstances that newer employees may not have. These are questions about how your workplace is set up, and the answers will differ from one person to the next.
Questions worth asking about your own workplace
- Does onboarding assume context? Training that relies on knowing how things are usually done here can leave someone lost and unsure whom to ask.
- Are the unwritten rules ever explained? Who to ask for help, how to request time off, and how problems get raised are often learned informally, if at all.
- Is information available in a form people can use? If some employees work in a language other than their first, check whether instructions, safety information, and training are available in a form they can follow.
- Were supervisors prepared to bring someone new onto the team? A supervisor who was never shown how to onboard someone may not notice a new employee struggling.
- Do practical barriers make the job hard to keep? Schedules, shift changes, transportation, and childcare can make a job unworkable regardless of how much someone wants it.
- Can new employees see a future here? People who can't see a way to grow may not stay to find out. Our people have nowhere to go here. How do we build a career path? covers that question.
How do we ask these employees why they leave in a way they can answer honestly?
You can ask these employees why they leave in a way they can answer honestly by making it safe, private, and worth their time. Ask current employees as well as those who are leaving, and explain why you're asking and what you'll do with what you hear.
Who asks and how matters. Employees may not be candid with a supervisor who is part of the problem, so someone outside their reporting line, or outside the organization, may hear more. Offer conversations or surveys in the languages your employees use. Be especially careful with privacy when a group is small: if only a few employees on a shift are recent immigrants, a summary of "what immigrant employees said" can identify them. Before you collect or analyze information about age, national origin, or immigration status, check with your HR or legal advisor about what you may collect and how it must be protected.
Then follow through, because asking and doing nothing can undermine trust. How do I find out what my employees actually need? covers how to ask so that people answer candidly.
What can we change once we understand why they leave?
Once you understand why these employees leave, change the conditions that are making it harder for them to stay, and tell employees what you're changing and why. Depending on what you learn, that might mean rewriting onboarding so it explains what is usually left unsaid, pairing new employees with an experienced coworker, preparing supervisors to check in during the first weeks, making key information available in the languages employees use, or adjusting how schedules are set.
Many of these changes can improve the experience of every new employee, and they avoid singling anyone out. Afterward, look again at how long employees in each group stay, and ask whether the changes made a difference. How do we know whether the change we made actually helped? covers how to check.
If your question is how to bring more younger or newer workers into your organization in the first place, that's a different question. How do we start working with a local college or school district on our hiring needs? and Should we spend our effort recruiting more students or keeping the ones we have? cover the pipeline side.
The Grantibly perspective
Angelika's perspective
My sabbatical work focuses on persistence in college settings, particularly the social and psychological factors that help students succeed: belonging, identity, self-efficacy, agency, motivation, resilience, and wellbeing, as well as the relationships and environments that shape those experiences. I'm expanding that thinking to workplace wellbeing and retention.
I'm particularly interested in the relationships between employees and their supervisors and leaders, and how those relationships influence people's sense of belonging, motivation, agency, wellbeing, and willingness to stay. Good policies matter, and so do how people interpret their experiences, how they're treated, and whether they feel valued and capable. Organizations, leaders, and supervisors have a responsibility to create the conditions that help people grow and thrive.
