We have recently published our latest edition of our exit interview industry update report and one of the phenomena which we identified within this analysis was “the four year itch”. So what is the four year itch and what should companies be doing about it?
The four year itch is a phenomena which we have observed in our data two years in a row. The finding is no fluke and appears to be an indication of an emerging trend across Australian companies. Over the last two years we have observed that employees with 4-5 years tenure are systematically the least positive about their company on seven out of our twelve employee engagement factors. Given that based on our research the average tenure of employees within Australia is about 4.5 years we believe that a number of employees experience a “four year itch” and become increasingly critical of their employers during that time in their career. Furthermore, it appears that IF employees choose to remain employed beyond their 5th year that their assessment of their company becomes much more positive again.
The implication of this finding is that we believe Australian companies would be much better served by tailoring their retention strategies based on employee tenure. In particular, we believe that there is a real opportunity for companies to gain a competitive advantage by specifically targeting the retention of employees with between 4 and 5 years service.
So what are the specific factors that employees become more critical of during the “four year itch”? Unfortunately, you will have to purchase a copy of our Industry Update Report to find out. Alternatively, why not engage us to develop a tailored retention strategy for your business?
To find out more about our latest Industry Update Report please click on the following link: https://www.henricksconsulting.com/2014/industry-update-report/
To order a copy of the report simply call us on (02) 8061-3918 or drop us a line at [email protected]