These Employees Are the Biggest Flight Risk, Study Shows

In the years following what's been dubbed the "Great Resignation," employers have pondered over what they can do to keep employees longer and which ones are most likely to jump ship.

According to a new Paycor report, there's a specific type of employee that employers need to watch out for—those who haven't met the two-year mark at their current company yet.

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Employees with two years or less at a company were deemed the biggest flight risk, according to the 7,000 Human Resources (HR), finance and IT professionals who were surveyed by Paycor. Those types of employees were 38 percent more likely to search for a new job in the next 12 months.

This finding could have significant implications for the HR field itself, as nearly half, or 46 percent of HR professionals surveyed said they had been at their jobs for two years or less.

Andy Nisevic, director of One Degree Training and Coaching, said the fact that employees tend to leave after or before only two years of employment is because during the early stages of team formation, people tend to do their best to fit in.

"Often, this results in lower performance as people are figuring each other out," Nisevic told Newsweek. "When the leaders don't have the skills to integrate someone effectively, or the personality mix doesn't suit the new person, it can mean they don't feel as though they fit so decide to move on."

Staying at a company more than two years, on the other hand, means the employee has usually fully integrated and matches the larger personality mix of the team.

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, said leaving before two-year mark might not necessarily just mean a wrong fit for young professionals, though. It could instead indicate a growth mindset.

"There's actually a common line you'll hear among young professionals: 'If you've stayed somewhere for more than two years, you've stayed too long,'" Beene told Newsweek. "Many are advised by others in their age group, recruiters, family, and even co-workers that they need to hop around, especially early in their career, often to get the most worth for their skill set."

While for past generations, job hopping was looked down upon, today's companies tend not to fixate on it as much. Still, Beene cautions workers from immediately hopping to what they perceive as a better opportunity.

"Obviously, a bigger paycheck is the sole reason for most moves, but I think it's fair to ask how much you like your current position," he said. "It's hard finding the right match professionally, and a few thousand dollars a year may not feel like that much extra compensation if you dislike the entity you jump to"

HR consultant Bryan Driscoll, meanwhile, said if employees are leaving within two years, it's a "clear failure" on the part of the company.

"It suggests the company may not have hired the right person for the role, indicating a poor recruitment and interview process," Driscoll told Newsweek. "This could be due to a mismatch between the job description and the actual responsibilities, unrealistic expectations, or a poor understanding of what the candidate was looking for in a position."

Other times, inadequate onboarding processes and poor managers can play a role.

"Employees leave managers," Driscoll added. "If a new hire is subjected to ineffective or toxic management, they're more likely to seek employment elsewhere."