How should startups keep great employees? Let them go

The truth is that if you don't offer employees the option to change roles, you're going to lose them

One out of five of my employees won’t be in their roles next year. And I couldn’t be happier.

Millennial job hopping has understandably created a lot of hand-wringing in the HR world. According to LinkedIn, millennials now expect to change their jobs every 2.5 years—double the rate of Gen X. These days, candidates aren’t just switching jobs, they’re often switching industries.

But what if this isn’t a cause for alarm? What if it’s actually a strategic advantage for businesses?

Traditionally, employee retention has been considered one of the hallmarks of company health. I’d argue that’s still the case, but focusing blindly on retention actually misses the bigger picture. The metric we should be tracking is what I call people movement—the oxygen pulsing through a business.

The two-way street of people movement
 

For the right employees, an open people movement policy is a boon. The chance to learn new skills—and fast—is quickly expanding their professional toolkit and building a stronger resume. How important is this to employees today? Around 65 percent of millennials say that personal development is the most important factor on the job, according to a UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School study. 
 

The  simple truth is that if you don’t offer employees the option to change roles, you’re going to lose them.

This isn’t HR hysteria. A full two-thirds of millennials say they plan to leave their jobs by 2020. At Hootsuite, we saw this happen too many times:  talented, otherwise happy employees jumping ship not because of pay, working conditions, or problems, but simply because they wanted a new challenge. So, we found a way to help them change roles without changing employers—and it seems to be working.

This is an excerpt from the article published on Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.

Ryan founded Hootsuite in 2008. He has since been at the forefront of social business, leading his team while funding programs that empower the next generation of startups and entrepreneurs.