77% of frontline supply chain workers are considering a job change in the next three months

WorkStep frontline worker survey results – Q1 2022

Workers are still leaving companies in droves, and this trend only seems to be gaining momentum. The past two and a half years has brought on a revolution for employees to seek better working conditions and satisfaction in their roles.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March saw a record high for job openings, reaching 11.5 million, while quit rates also hit a high at 4.5 million. Clearly the Great Resignation is not ending anytime soon, and this perpetuation continues to negatively impact the supply chain.

Since WorkStep has the largest supply chain specific network of candidates, we wanted to hear directly from our frontline workers on their experience in this job market.

WorkStep gathered responses from over 100 job seekers, and the findings may leave you picking your jaw up off the ground.

Hourly workers will keep quitting

Despite companies offering significant wage increases and other incentives across the supply chain labor market, hourly workers are still looking to leave their roles.

In fact, responses found that 77% are considering leaving their current role in the next three months. That’s over three quarters of your workforce. And it’s likely many of those people have not been with the company very long since 46% of respondents say they’ve only been in their role for less than a year.

These numbers are  alarming. Consider the cost of turnover. How will this affect your company’s bottom line over the next few months? The answer is significantly. Losing a single member of your workforce costs a business so much more than just the termed employee’s salary. Today, the average cost of losing a single frontline worker is $12,876. Now consider the financial repercussions if nearly 80% of workers leave their current roles in the next few months.

If you’re struggling to retain your frontline supply chain workers and want to reduce turnover rates, WorkStep’s employee retention software can help you achieve your goals with advanced features and insights designed to support your retention strategy and drive positive outcomes.

Frontline workers feel they aren’t being heard

Although record high turnover continues to persist, management teams rarely, if ever, ask for feedback from their frontline supply chain workforce. Without this insight, it’s impossible to understand employee sentiment let alone reduce turnover.

WorkStep’s survey showed 41% of respondents said management never seeks feedback. Despite the endless attempts to incentivize employees to stay, nearly half of companies are not even attempting to understand why their workforce is leaving. Creating a retention strategy this way will always be unsuccessful.

For job seekers who said their companies do want their input, 8% say they’re only asked to provide feedback once a year. Gathering feedback this infrequently causes companies to miss engaging with workers who quit, and therefore miss the opportunity to prevent them from leaving.

For the employees that get to provide feedback, 70% say their voices aren’t being heard.

This means companies are not taking action on the feedback coming in. So what’s the point of getting the feedback in the first place? Not only does this do nothing to reduce turnover, it also leads to employees disengaging and feeling even less valued.

What’s driving employee dissatisfaction?

It’s important to continuously gather real-time feedback from employees since motivators are constantly changing. New situations can arise that will influence what drives turnover, such as record-level inflation, the war in Ukraine, or the pandemic.

Our survey showed that 38% of workers are potentially leaving because of limited career growth opportunities. It makes sense, who doesn’t want to feel they can grow within their organization? Often companies assume hourly frontline workers are just interested in a job, not a career, when actually, 72% rank career growth opportunities as a top priority when choosing a new role. 

As more people strive to find a work-life balance, it shouldn’t surprise companies to hear that  100% of workers say flexibility, schedules, and hours influence their decision on taking a new role. 

We’re in an era where employees are empowered to seek opportunities based on their needs. That’s why it’s more important than ever that companies are listening to workers and actively making changes to meet those needs.

How WorkStep can improve employee satisfaction

How are you determining what drives employee satisfaction in your company?

If you already ask for feedback but aren’t taking action on that feedback, does this mean you lack a solution that allows you to see real-time results? Are you unable to track the impact of the actions you do take?

WorkStep can help give your frontline workers a voice and improve retention rates, ultimately benefiting your bottom line. Schedule a demo today.