A recent survey showed that 1 out of every 4 new employees with a bachelors’ degree or higher quits within a year.

Such early exits are three times more common at companies with less than 300 employees than at larger businesses.

The results were shown in the survey conducted on 306 businesses nationwide by the Korea’s Employers’ Federation on their employment status as of this year. The departure ratio among new recruits who have graduated from college came at 27.7 percent, 2.5 percentage points higher than in 2014.

While the overall resignation rate declined to 9.4 percent from 11.3 percent, it was the opposite for companies with less than 300 employees, with the ratio increasing to 32.5 percent from 31.6 percent.

The number of college graduates leaving before completing a full year has continuously surged from 23.6 percent in 2012 to 25.2 percent in 2014. The situation was more frequent in smaller companies with less than 300 workers at 32.5 percent compared to 9.4 percent among companies with 300 or more employees

The largest number, 49.1 percent, cited “failure to fit in to the organization or job” as the reason for having left the job. Other reasons included “unsatisfactory pay and welfare benefits” with 20.0 percent and “unsatisfied with the location and or environment of workplace” with 15.9 percent.

The federation said that the survey showed more diverse efforts are needed to help the newcomers adjust to the organization. It added that based on the monthly rate of those leaving their jobs, it showed that the new recruits that quit within a year tended to do so between the 9th and 12th month of their employment, meaning they tend to move in time for the next recruitment season.

Just over half of the companies said they tended to focus on distributing tasks based on each newcomer’s ability and character in order to prevent them from leaving, followed by 46.0 percent of those keeping track of their situation, such as through a mentoring system. Multiple answers were allowed.

On the other hand, the satisfaction felt by the companies for the job performance of their new recruits has continued to dwindle since the survey was conducted in 2010.

The average rating of job performance was 76 points out of 100 this year, slightly lower than 2014’s 76.2.  

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)