Work From Home Jobs Can Help Employee Retention

In recent years, two workers have left the work force for every one entering it. This astounding trend will continue into the foreseeable future, creating pressure on employers to become very creative and aggressive in their efforts to attract and retain employees.

Oddly, executives seem to be more optimistic about their own situation than they are about others in their industry—expressing an “it won’t happen to me” mentality. Almost 40% of respondents in a recent survey believe that turnover will increase within their industry, but only 21% expect their own turnover situation to get worse.

But demographics prove otherwise. The American work force is changing across the board; it is aging, diversifying and shrinking. Many of the Baby Boomers and so-called Silents born before 1946 are on the verge of retiring over the next five years. As these older generations leave the worker pool, the overall number of available workers will drop due to the relative smaller size of the younger generations.

The good news is the surveys show that employee retention has suddenly jumped to a top priority now that executives recognize the brain drain they’ll face in the next decade. More than 80% of business executives in 600 U.S. companies finally have taken notice and consider employee retention a top priority, according to The Employment Turnover Trends survey by TalentKeepers Inc. — a huge jump from the 40% who considered employee retention a top priority a year ago.

Work from home opportunities and telecommuting positions may finally get the attention they deserve from corporate HR departments.