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The role of training in reducing graduate turnover

When organisations begin their annual intake of graduates, they’ll be hoping that many of them will stay with the organisation long enough to make the recruitment costs worthwhile. The harsh fact is, nearly half of recruited graduates are already thinking about their next job – and will soon be gone.

According to the Royal Bank of Scotland, around 40% of graduates expect to move on from their first job within just two years – which will cost their employers in the region of £365 million. Worse, only one in ten expects to be with the same company after five years.

Many organisations use graduate induction programmes to provide new starters with the skills needed to succeed in their new organisation. Retaining people is partly about creating an environment for them to do well – if people feel that they can progress well in an organisation, and have the skills to do so, they are far less likely to get itchy feet.

Where many companies fall down is that their graduate recruitment programmes, while good, are often far too short – just a week’s training at the beginning of their employment, with little formal training scheduled afterwards. Really successful graduate induction training programmes continue for years – not just giving people that initial ‘boost up’ but also helping them to grow and progress in the first early (but vital and formative) stages of their career.

Far from being ‘just a cost’, such programmes are a solid investment that pay for themselves many times over – and help to reduce the cost of bringing in so many new graduates.

The key is in planning a graduate training programme which supports the graduate from those initial stages (when the employee is still more of a cost than a benefit) right through until they become valuable team members – and then continues to make them more valuable.

Some things to think about:

• How are graduates supported in the workplace, beyond the initial induction training? 
• Are your managers and team leaders fully briefed and trained to support graduates?
• Are graduates assigned buddies and mentors?
• How do you measure the development of graduates?
• How are goals set for graduates?
• How do you know how well the graduate is contributing to the business?
• How do you make graduates feel part of the community and not isolated?

How a graduate training programme works really does depend on the nature of the organisation, but with a little innovation and thinking, a programme can be created which makes new recruits feel more welcome, gets them being more productive sooner – and makes them want to be part of your organisation longer.

Graduate induction training doesn’t have to be just about a week’s worth of chalk-and-talk. It can do more – and last longer – and the more you do, the longer your graduates are likely to stay with you, to become valued team members.