The Antidote to Career Nomad Syndrome: A Strong Company Culture

Has your company been impacted by “career nomad syndrome” (aka job-hopping )? If you haven’t been, you might soon be… it’s on the rise.

While you can rarely change an employee’s mind if they decide to leave, you can ensure you have the right company culture in place to keep the best people – and provide for their continued career growth and leadership opportunities.

With each new generation entering the workforce, the average amount of time an individual spends at a company appears to be dropping. For example, a recent study found that, on average, Baby Boomers spend 8 years with an employer, while members of Generation X spend 5.4 years, Millennials/Gen Y less than half of that at 2.4 years, and Generation Z averages a little over one year (1.2).

As more of Gen Z enters the workforce, and the Baby Boomers retire, the percentage of the employee base with longevity will diminish. Whether that impacts your business negatively or not depends on your company culture. Turnover is always disruptive, but a strong culture can minimize it and ultimately benefit your company’s success.

What Is Career Nomad Syndrome?

Career Nomad Syndrome is the name for the seemingly perpetually search for career advancement and job satisfaction. Employees join a company, garner a little bit of knowledge, learn how things work, and take that comprehension on to the next place they work, along with a pay increase. And every couple of years (or less), they move to the next opportunity.

The cost of onboarding is expensive. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) says the average cost exceeds $4,100 when you add training, background checks, time spent, and more. To put that investment onto every employee every couple of years can be a significant budget drain, not to mention the strain on delivering value to the customer.

The trends suggest that career nomad syndrome isn’t going away any time soon. Learning about what it is, how to avoid it, and how to leverage the benefits is just smart leadership.

The Pros and Cons of Decreasing Longevity

Years ago, longevity was a sign of strength in an organization. Businesses promoted from within and management often started in a training program that moved candidates through the ranks based on seniority. Today, “new eyes” are often valued and brought in to change direction or shake things up. Longevity is no longer a requirement

The Upside

Organizations can benefit from a more transient workforce because new employees and leaders bring new ideas, energy, and experiences from previous employment. Open positions also allow for bringing in those who may be more in line with the company culture you are trying to create. Sometimes people with longevity are hesitant to accept change. Recruiting for new talents and skills can advance adaptation to evolving customer or organizational needs.

The Downside

With every employee who exits your company, you risk a loss of institutional knowledge. They may take information or specific skills with them.

Employee loss can also be disruptive to teams, workflow, and client relationships. It’s difficult to build team synergy when your front door is revolving. Vacancies can also lead to the tabling of mission-critical initiatives.

When people leave, your team struggles, and morale and company culture take a hit. If your employees are leaving for higher pay, advancement, or perceived better culture, the news will spread to others in the organization. And when multiple people leave or don’t feel like they have a future within your organization, it is an indication that you have more significant issues to address.

Why You Need an Appealing Company Culture

Company culture is your business’ personality. It’s how things get done and defines how to act and function within the organization, both internally and publicly. It is your formal and informal systems, your company behaviors, and your values. Company culture is what becomes the basis for your employee and customer experience when they work for—or with—your company. At the heart of your culture lies commonly shared values that power your brand.

Company culture feeds into all parts of your business, such as your:

• Ability to attract and retain top talent
• Reputation in the marketplace
• Ability to garner support for company-wide initiatives
• Capacity to excite and invigorate people to talk about you (as in referral marketing and employee referrals)
• Capability for providing an internal control monitor for executing good decisions on behalf of the company in an agile way. Leaders at all levels understand the culture and are empowered to make decisions based on their knowledge.
• Ability to communicate that employees are part of something larger.

Leaders at every level of your company affect company culture. It’s not a document. It is a living, breathing commitment to your values exemplified through action. Anyone who takes on a leadership role, whether senior management or an independent contributor leading a project or initiative, places their stamp on your culture.

That’s why the exit and arrival of each employee impact your culture. Being dedicated to creating an appealing company culture means it permeates all aspects of your business, not just the forward-facing efforts like marketing and sales.

Company culture shapes obvious company personality indicators like communications, hierarchy, dress code, and values. But it’s also the bases of more employee-centric organizational protocols like how you react to challenges, the opportunities you offer for growth within your organization, the options and process for feedback and suggestions, the prioritization of projects and turnaround times, the organizational subcultures you support, as well as celebrations, rewards, and honors.

Because company culture lives in all areas of your business, every leader must embrace and protect it. While it appears the mass trend of quitting is one of the riskiest trends to your culture, it can also solidify and enhance your company culture.

The Career Nomad and Your Company Culture

You place the proliferation of your company culture in the hands of every employee. You exemplify it with how you act and interact with the goal of impacting how those around you do their jobs, grow their careers, talk about your company internally and externally. Your investment in developing an environment where wins are acknowledged and conflict is resolved is an investment in the success of your business.

When this job-hopping trend ends, and another takes its place, your company culture will insulate you. So, hire right, nurture your talent, build a runway for growth and opportunity, and communicate your goals, and the leaders at all levels of your organization who are a match for your company culture will stay.

If you are interested in learning more about how our leadership development method can help you define or align company culture, contact us today!