Personality_Turnover

The good news is that there are tested and effective ways to weed out the likely quitters even before they are hired, says Texas A&M University industrial–organizational psychologist Dr. Ryan Zimmerman.

For many companies, turnover is more than just losing employees. Zimmerman, who is a management professor at A&M’s Mays Business School, says it is an investment loss because time and money are often devoted to employee recruiting and training. Plus, he points out that there are other indirect issues that can be affected by turnover, such as productivity and customer service.

Therefore, obtaining low turnover rates are a common goal among companies. Rather than devoting all concentration to keeping employees once hired, research shows that it is important to focus on hiring the right people from the start – people who are less likely to quit.

And that is where industrial–organizational psychologists like Zimmerman, scientists who specialize in workplace issues, including stemming high turnover rates, are helpful to human resource managers.

By closely looking at individual characteristics of prospective employees, “there is proven research that shows certain people are more likely to be habitual quitters, where others will tend to stay at a job no matter what,” Zimmerman said.

To better understand why people quit their jobs, Zimmerman, a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, conducted a meta-analytic study on turnover and its relationship to individuals’ personalities. His findings will be published in an upcoming issue of Personnel Psychology.

Zimmerman’s research highlights three key traits that can be measured in an individual: agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability, which best predict individuals’ future turnover decisions.

People who are more agreeable are less likely to leave a job because they go with the flow and tend to be concerned about what others think, he said. Conscientious people usually have strong work ethic and are more dependable and reliable, which Zimmerman describes as characteristics of a committed employee. As for being emotionally stable, these individuals are also less likely to quit a job because they are apt to be more calm and secure.

“By focusing on hiring individuals who are higher on these traits, organizations can reduce the amount of turnover they have,” Zimmerman said. “An organization can actually avoid turnover before an employee is even hired by looking at the personality traits ahead of time.”

Administering personality tests during the employee selection process can be a useful tool for identifying these personality traits. Zimmerman said, “I believe all organizations would benefit by utilizing personality tests in hiring.”

In addition, Zimmerman also recognizes some organizational factors as predictors of turnover, including job satisfaction and job complexity. Companies can help reduce turnover by creating a desirable work environment. However, he still sees personality as the most significant predictor of an employee’s actual decision to quit.

“In the past organizations were worried if people liked their jobs, but based on these results, personality is as, if not slightly more, important than how a job is designed,” Zimmerman said. “By assessing personality you can better hire a person who is less likely to quit.”

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For more information, contact Zimmerman at 979-845-3133.

The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) is an international group of more than 6,500 industrial-organizational (I–O) psychologists whose members study and apply scientific principles concerning workplace productivity, motivation, leadership and engagement. SIOP’s mission is to enhance human well-being and performance in organizational and work settings by promoting the science, practice and teaching of I–O psychology. For more information about SIOP, including Media Resources, which lists nearly 2,000 experts in more than 100 topic areas, visit www.siop.org.