70% of Generation Y employees are leaving job positions within the first two years of their onboarding programs. Since we spend a lot of our time helping companies source, screen and hire people, this stat is a little disconcerting. Add to that, the fact that Gen Y or Millennials are poised to become the largest generational pie piece of the workforce by 2020, and it’s a whopper of an issue!

Change the Hiring Process

Many times, recruiters are likely to be turned off by a candidate that spent a short amount of time with their past employers. Hiring managers are more attracted to those carrying experience and loyalty in fear of handling high costs of turnover rates. On the flipside, Stephen Coco and Moira Ceconi, Talent & HR Solutions for Xerox, believe the automatic turn-off response to short-term employees isn’t always the smart move.

Gen Y job hoppers may have been short-term employees in past positions due to involuntary termination or required internships during college which require short-term employment; past short-term positions do not always indicate the candidate is likely to cause termination in the future. Teach your sourcers or calibrate your ATS not to auto-reject these candidates, as the 24-monther is far more common today than he or she was prior to the 2008 recession.

Coco and Ceconi suggest inquiring why the candidate was only short-term in past positions within the very first video or phone interview. Doing so will save recruiters time and money depending on the given answer; trusting the candidate gave an honest answer will aid recruiters on what should be done next in the recruiting process. You can include this simple question in a video screening interview.

Turnover Rates are Turnover Rates, Period.

Whether it’s a Gen Y employee leaving your company or a Baby Boomer, turnover rates are going to cost you. Separation cost, replacement cost and training cost all have the potential to add up to 3x salary – yikes! Avoiding these high-cost turnover rates should be top of mind for all talent acquisition and HR Professionals.

Keeping Your Employees On Their Toes

Losing Gen Y employees is as simply done as losing the drive for fresh ideas in the workforce. As routine as we can be, it’s important to apply change in the office to keep your employees engaged and interested; this lowers chances of employees searching for new positions elsewhere. 56% of organizations report business leaders are implementing talent management into their teams including: hiring, development and performance management.

Engagement throughout this process is another “must have”. For example, addressing workforce flexibility, getting involved with mentor/mentee programs and internal hiring programs are all engaging tactics to attract your employees. Mentor/mentee programs are a great way to expand knowledge throughout the office and inspire new ideas or build ideas toward in-progress projects.

Providing your employees a sense of purpose will ensure their stay. If employees are kicked to the side and not challenged to present the skill set they displayed during the interview process, they are more likely to go on to bigger and better opportunities. In fact, studies performed show as much as 75% of a businesses’ top employees are likely to leave an organization after three years.

Apply new technologies and high trend software and hardware within your company to give your employees the opportunity to keep up with the times and expand their knowledge on our vastly changing world.

Bio: Julie Salerno, VP Sales

Julie Salerno provides guidance and leadership to GreenJobInterview’s sales team and is responsible for the ongoing growth of the company’s revenues and profitability. She is involved in strategic planning, helping to managing the company’s resources, and improving its business processes.

Previously, she served as a partner and senior executive recruiter at Personnel Strategies, Inc.

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