While the term “quiet quitting” has risen to the front of the employment landscape, new data reveals that many workers are now “quick quitting.” “Quick quitting” refers to employees who leave their jobs before the one-year mark. With each job switch, employees tend to earn more money and gain a leg up on their peers who remain at an organization long-term. However, this trend has the potential to wreak havoc on your business’ retention rates, reputation and bottom line.

The Growing Popularity of Quick Quitting

According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Report, the quick quitting phenomenon is on the rise. Through the analysis of short tenure rates (STRs) — the fraction of positions that end after being held for less than one year — this report uncovered an increase across several industries over the last couple of years. Short tenures started to rise in August 2021 and peaked in March 2022 when the STR was up 9.7% year over year.

The following industries are seeing a sharp increase in quick quitting as shown by their STR:

• Technology, information and media: 10.48%
• Administrative and support services: 8.87%
• Financial services: 5.62%
• Professional services: 4.49%
• Transportation, logistics, supply chain and storage: 4.15%
• Manufacturing: 1.23%

In general, today’s employees are seeking jobs that pay more, are more fulfilling or offer added flexibility. Having had time to reflect on their jobs and consider opportunities with a fresh perspective, employees aren’t afraid to leave right away if the job isn’t what they expected.

How Can Employers Reduce Quick Quitting?

An employee’s first 90 days on the job have traditionally been the most important ones for retention, and they are even more critical amid the quick quitting trend. To better retain top talent early on, consider the following tips:

• Implement a structured onboarding and orientation process. It’s vital to help new hires understand that their contributions matter to the organization and that their performance will make a difference.
• Start onboarding before an employee’s first day. Contact new hires before their first official day to deliver formal HR paperwork or start introductions to the worker’s new team.
• Commit to continuous onboarding. HR professionals and hiring managers can plan out a new hire’s career, complete with milestones and accomplishments. As conversations evolve, employees can also take accountability for their career path plan by providing feedback on what they’d like to accomplish and contribute. Not only is this an excellent tactic to prevent quick quitting, but it can help minimize quiet quitting, too.
• Recognize employees. A formal reward or recognition program is a simple but effective way to express to employees that they are doing a good job.
• Invest in career growth. With many workers reevaluating their career goals and paths, employers can invest in them by expanding learning and development opportunities.
• Conduct “stay interviews.” Unlike exit interviews, stay interviews can help shed light on why employees stay at an organization. This can help leaders and managers gauge employee engagement and potentially uncover what further steps should be taken to improve employee retention.

Ultimately, most employees want a job that offers meaning and purpose as well as compensation that appropriately matches their talents and experience. Organizations that don’t deliver on pre-hire promises, fail to cultivate a positive company culture or refuse to take a vested interest in their employees’ growth are likely to find themselves facing challenges as a result of the quick quitting phenomenon.

Looking for tailored tactics to help your business attract and retain top talent? Connect with our team at CBIZ Employee Benefits to discuss what we can do for you.