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TACKLING THE PROBLEM
Preventing First Year Turnover
Over one-third of newly hired employees quit within their first year. This not only creates a revolving door of employees burdening your talent acquisition team, it’s expensive. Studies show the time it takes to get a new employee productive can range from as little as eight months to two years. New employees leaving your organization have not generated any return on the investment you’ve put in during their recruiting, hiring, onboarding and training. If you want to identify the reasons for employee turnover in the first year and address them, get in touch with us.
How We Identify First Year Turnover Causes
First impressions are lasting impressions. Employees quickly make judgements about employers during the initial days and weeks of their employment. Getting feedback from employees quickly in their tenure uncovers any deficiencies in the onboarding and training process of new employees. This is one of the primary reasons for high turnover rate for first-year employees.
Proof We Can Identify and Help Prevent New Hire Turnover
At Parkview Health, one out of every three nurses hired left within the first year. This turnover rate benchmark was costly and affected the quality of care they provided to their patients.
They started to understand why employees left within the first year by simply asking and listening to their feedback. Parkview utilized Work Institute’s exit interviews with nurses who exited in the first year to fully understand what caused them to quit and what the organization could do to improve.
After capturing the Voice of the Employee, they understood the challenges their nurses faced. The key findings in these interviews were:
- Pay was not the number one reason nurses left
- Expectations for the job was the number one reason for leaving
- The onboarding process needed to be improved
- Leadership behaviors had to change to better retain nurses
Based on these key findings, changes were implemented that resulted in a 33% increase in “Excellent” ratings for onboarding, 36% decreases in “Poor” ratings for onboarding, and an overall 36% decrease in First Year Nursing Turnover. View the case study in its entirety here:
FAQ: First-Year Employee Turnover & Retention
Q1: What is first-year employee turnover?
A: First-year employee turnover refers to the percentage of new hires who leave an organization within their first 12 months. High turnover in this period can be costly and may indicate issues with onboarding, expectations, or workplace culture.
Q2: Why do new hires leave within their first year?
A: Common reasons include unclear job expectations, insufficient onboarding, lack of support from leadership, and mismatched role fit. Exit interviews and employee feedback help identify these causes.
Q3: How can organizations prevent first-year turnover?
A: Prevention strategies include structured onboarding programs, clear communication of role expectations, early engagement initiatives, regular check-ins, and leadership training to support new employees.
Q4: What role does onboarding play in employee retention?
A: Effective onboarding helps new hires feel prepared, supported, and connected to the organization. It increases engagement, accelerates productivity, and significantly reduces early turnover.
Q5: How can exit interviews help reduce first-year turnover?
A: Exit interviews capture honest feedback from departing employees, revealing root causes of turnover. Organizations can use this data to improve onboarding, training, leadership practices, and workplace culture.
Q6: What is the cost of first-year employee turnover?
A: First-year turnover is expensive, including recruitment, hiring, training, and lost productivity costs. Studies show replacing a single employee can cost up to twice their annual salary, making early retention critical.
Q7: How do you measure the success of turnover reduction strategies?
A: Success can be measured through improvements in retention rates, onboarding satisfaction scores, employee engagement levels, and reductions in exit interviews citing preventable reasons for leaving.