Poor Employee Experience Is Causing High Turnover

July 17, 2024

by Sean Cox

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The Hourly Employee Exodus: Poor Employee Experience is Driving High Turnover

Is the Great Resignation over? Anthony Klotz, the professor who coined the term, seems to think so. Yet, hourly workers appear to have a dissenting opinion.

In our 2024 State of the Hourly Workforce, more than 1,500 hourly workers and 550 managers point to another turbulent year for turnover.

Research shows an alarming 50% of hourly employees surveyed plan to leave their jobs within the next year. Nearly half that amount (22% of the total sample) hopes to leave within 3-6 months.

The numbers escalate with hourly employees aged 18-24, with an astonishing 76% planning to leave their jobs in the next 12 months—a large contrast to those aged 35-44 (56%), 45-54 (44%), and 55-64 (34%).

Why Are Hourly Employees Planning to Quit?

Low retention rates are linked to the perception that companies don’t prioritize the employee experience.

Are employers creating a positive employee experience for hourly workers and managers? Only 50% of frontline workers surveyed think so, and 41% of employees reported that their companies “have not done anything to make my workplace better” in the past 12 months.

Understanding what employees want in their work experience provides an opportunity for how employers can improve. When asked to select the factors they value the most about their current role, hourly workers’ top three picks were:

  • “I like the people I work with.” (69%)
  • “I enjoy the work I do.” (60%)
  • “I have a flexible schedule.” (52%)

At Legion, we offer several WFM modules to create a positive employee experience, including performance and rewards software that recognizes performance and rewards employees for their hard work.

Through a gamified platform, employees become more engaged with their managers and co-workers while receiving rewards through a leaderboard-style dashboard.

How Can Employers Retain Hourly Workers?

You can boost employee retention by enabling frontline employees to focus on the parts of their jobs that they enjoy most—the human side of work. Here are three strategies employers can implement to boost employee satisfaction and retention:

1. Put the Focus Back on People

Allow employees and managers to focus on the parts of the job they like the most: being part of a team and getting work done. Automating routine tasks and maximizing labor efficiency enable employees to focus on those areas.

Intelligently automated, employee-centric workforce management gives employees more control of their schedules while automatically matching business labor needs with employee skills and schedule preferences.

With Legion WFM, managers have reduced scheduling time by 50% and have more time to focus on the human side of work—mentoring their teams and spending time with customers. Optimal schedules lead to optimal outcomes: more engaged employees and satisfied customers.

2. Embrace AI and Automation

By using technology to create more predictable schedules, automate time off and shift offers, frontline communications, and more, employers can demonstrate that they are prioritizing a flexible, transparent work environment that improves the experience, increases equitability, and raises the productivity of all workers.

Legion WFM creates competitive advantages by forecasting factors in the past and future, automatically generating the optimal schedule, and empowering hourly employees with gig-like flexibility. This offers a better work-life balance. AI also eliminates bias and reduces human errors.

3. Earned Wage Access

Getting paid early is a top priority for Gen Z and Millennial workers. 43% of those aged 18-24 cite the ability to get paid early as a top reason they would take a new hourly job, and 47% of those aged 25-34 agree.

Legion WFM enables earned wage access with InstantPay, supporting financial well-being, boosting retention rates, and improving operational efficiency. With this employee experience strategy, ALDO Group reduced late clock-ins by 66%.

Improve Retention Rates with the Right Tools

Understanding and addressing how employees feel is crucial for improving retention rates. Employers can make significant strides to improve the employee experience for their hourly workforce by focusing on creating a better employee experience, embracing technology, and offering financial flexibility.

Dive deeper into this year’s State of the Hourly Workforce to explore hourly employee and manager sentiment.

And, when you’re ready, contact us today to gain additional insights and strategies to engage and retain employees in 2024 and beyond.

Read the 2024: State of the Hourly Workforce