Recruiting Up, Turnover Down – Will It Continue?

Economists have made no secret of the fact that it will be several years until the United States returns to a healthy unemployment rate of less than six percent. As uncertainty continues to linger in the workforce, turnover rates have continued to slowly decline. The 2011 BenchmarkPro survey results found companies experienced total turnover rates of 14.4 percent between 2010 and 2011. Voluntary turnover rates were reported at 9.1 percent, slightly down from the 10.4 percent reported two years ago.

Turnover rates vary by industry as the hospitality industry averaged a total turnover rate of 29.1 percent. Healthcare organizations experienced a 15.9 percent total turnover rate, compared to insurance companies at 10.8 percent. Total turnover was the lowest for utilities employers, 6.2 percent.

“Turnover rates may have dropped slightly, but the good news is many companies have resumed hiring again,” said Amy Kaminski, director of marketing for Compdata Surveys, the nation’s leading pay and benefits survey data provider. “In 2009, 91 percent of companies reported they were actively recruiting new personnel. That number increased to more than 96 percent in 2011, which means the number of available jobs may be on the rise as well.”

To fill these vacancies, companies are employing a variety of methods. More than 83 percent are advertising on the internet. Newspaper advertising and using job fairs are used by companies at a rate of 62.5 percent and 55.1 percent, respectively. Fifty-four percent of respondents use employee referral programs to find new personnel, while 51.8 percent use internet resume databases. Trade or professional association advertising is used to aid in the recruitment process at 41.2 percent of organizations surveyed.

About the Survey

BenchmarkPro 2011 contains cross-industry data on over 300 benchmark job titles. Data was collected from nearly 3,700 employers reporting for more than 18,000 locations across the country. The results provide a comprehensive summary of pay data and pay practices with an effective date of March 1, 2011.

 

 


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Ira S Wolfe