Advertising employee exit can help organizations attract new talent: UBC study

For decades, employers have tried to attract and retain employees by advertising job security and a place where they can build stable, long-term careers. But these days, most workers are only stepping into jobs for three to five years before moving on. What happens if recruiters explicitly advertise an environment where people can grow in the short term before leaving?

According to a new study by the UBC Sauder School of Business, it can be a winning approach, both for employers who anticipate a revolving door of talent and workers looking to stay competitive on the job market. 

For the study, titled Organizational mobility preferences and organizational career environments: A person-organization fit perspective, researchers attended a university career fair and asked over 200 participants to fill out a survey about their “Organizational Mobility Preference” — that is, whether they would prefer to stay employed with one organization or prefer to move through many employers in their careers. 

The participants then reviewed recruitment ads, some of which emphasized the employer’s expectation that employees stay for long-term careers by offering time-dependent incentives like stock options and retirement packages; other ads signaled the employer’s expectation that employees may eventually leave and focused on short-term benefits such as training that would be useful in a range of work environments. In another experiment, over 600 job seekers were asked to reveal the stability level they were looking for and respond to different recruitment ads. 

UBC Sauder Assistant Professor and study lead author Dr. Rebecca Paluch (she/her) says they expected that people who wanted more movement in their careers would respond more positively to the ads emphasizing short-term gains, while those seeking stability would be drawn to the ads about long-term gains — but the results turned out a little differently.

“What was surprising is that organizations advertising that they openly recognize employees will leave and support them as they pursue external careers were the most attractive to job seekers regardless of whether they preferred more mobile or more stable careers,” says Dr. Paluch, who co-authored the study with Vanessa Shum from the SFU Beedie School of Business. “We believe that job seekers interpret this as the organization supporting employees no matter what they choose.”

Presenting a company as a stepping stone has long been seen as risky because it could diminish the brand while making the company seem less supportive of the employees, adds Dr. Paluch, but this study showed the opposite was true. 

Instability in employment markets and the frequency of layoff announcements have likely driven the interest in prospective employers that can provide near-term benefits, says Dr. Paluch. “Job seekers might be thinking, ‘I need to look for a firm that will help me get the skills and experiences that will make me marketable on the external labour market because if something happens and I need to leave, I can still be a competitive job candidate.’”

Organizations are also increasingly pegging compensation levels to that of other employers, adds Dr. Paluch, and employees realize one of the best ways to get a bump in salary is to bring in an outside offer. “When the organization helps make employees externally marketable, employees might also be able to increase their marketability internally as well.”

There aren’t many organizations that are explicitly courting workers using short-term perks, says Dr. Paluch, but some are adopting the approach. For example, McKinsey and Company states, “Whether you decide to stay with McKinsey for two years or 20 years, a role at McKinsey is a springboard for your career.” A McDonald's recruitment message boasts, “Regardless of why they joined or how long they stayed, a first job at McDonald's has served as a springboard to exciting and diverse careers.”

Much of the employment-related academic literature has emphasized job security as the ultimate factor that job seekers are looking for, says Dr. Paluch, but this study shows there’s a fundamental shift afoot. 

“It really speaks to the changing employment relationship,” she says. “Workers realize that careers are no longer a straight upward progression within a single organization. Many job seekers are taking control and proactively advancing their own careers, because ultimately, that is what will help them stay employed over the long term.”

Companies have been squarely focused on retaining employees, and treating people well so they stay — but Dr. Paluch says employers need to understand that what it means to “treat people well” has changed. 

“Rather than treating people well through job security and steady upward promotion, treating people well these days is providing learning and growth opportunities that will help them manage their own careers — and that's one of the main points organizations should be taking from these findings,” she says. 

Highlighting successful corporate alumni — that is, employees who have worked at the company and moved onto great things — can also help boost a corporate brand, and ironically, make it more likely others will stick around.

“It may be somewhat counterintuitive, but if you give people opportunities and experiences that increase their ability to leave the organization, it can also increase their commitment to stay,” says Dr. Paluch. 

“Organizations need to have a better understanding of what job seekers are looking for — and if they're not meeting those needs, they could lose out on top quality talent.”