Regardless of what sector startups operate in, ultimately they’re all people businesses. Their success is dependent not only on their skills in sourcing the right talent but also their ability to retain it. Worryingly, a lot of businesses seemingly struggle with the latter, as a newly released study has suggested that a third of UK employees have been planning to leave their jobs.
Having surveyed 2,000 full-time workers in January, Robert Half UK, the recruitment agency, has released a study unearthing how likely employees working in a range of sectors were to leave their current employer in the first six months of 2017. Despite experiencing above-average levels of happiness at work, people working in tech and IT were the most likely to up sticks from their current job, with 52% of them considering leaving before the beginning of July. Professionals in legal and accounting were the second and third most likely groups to quit: of those, 47% and 45% respectively said they were planning to find employment elsewhere. People in administrative roles were found to have been the least likely to hand in their notice in the first half of this year, with less than a third of them considering it.
It also seems as if age affected how likely someone was to leave their current job. About a half of the millennials surveyed were intending to leave their jobs by the end of June, while, in contrast, only a third of people between the age of 35 and 54 were considering quitting. And when looking at workers aged over 55, only 21% were contemplating making a swift exit.
“With a skills shortage continuing in the UK, skilled employees are fast becoming aware that they have multiple opportunities available to them as demand continues to grow faster than supply,” commented Phil Sheridan, senior managing director at Robert Half UK. Fortunately he did offer some advice on how to ensure lower staff turnover: talking with employees, supporting their aspirations and helping them develop can increase their happiness in their role.
In other words, helping employees grow professionally can ensure higher retention and boost a startup’s success chances. 
