Assignments = loyalty

Which holds a higher cost: a short-term assignment or on-boarding and training a new employee? Of course, the true answer relies on the intricacies of the assignment (i.e. where it is, what level of support the employee receives, etc.) and the level of the newly hired employee, but The Society for Human Resources or SHRM studies show that the cost to hire a higher-level employee (director and above) can cost up to 213% of their salary. That can certainly outweigh the cost of their assignment, not to mention the amount of knowledge and employee loyalty that could be lost if the assignment is not offered, or if the assignment fails.

Allianz Partners surveyed several companies and their results uncovered that for the companies that have confirmed to track retention of employees that have gone on assignment, those employees have a higher loyalty to that employer. Another recent survey done by AIRINC revealed that 64% of companies that have assignments do not track assignments with their retention rates. How do those companies know if their hefty investment in their employee’s assignments are successful for their ROI?  

Does your company track retention rates of assignees? If not, it may be wise to start.