No matter the size of your company, poor staff retention is bad for business.

Employee retention is a challenge for nearly every organisation, and even the best employers still struggle to retain their top talent.

The main issue for many companies is that they don’t understand why their employees leave, and don't know what effect poor retention can have on their business. To help shed some light on the matter, we've summed up 10 of the most shocking facts about staff retention you need to know.

WARNING: SOME READERS MAY FIND CONTENT DISTURBING

1. 75% of employers struggle to recruit the talent they need

Don't get off on the wrong foot! Hiring the wrong person for the job can be devastating for morale and lead to fast staff turnaround.

2. 88% of employees don't feel passionate about their work

Let's be honest, not everyone loves their job. Some are head over heels and some just turn up to get paid, but helping your employees feel engaged in their tasks will help drive their passion for the job.

3. Only 20% of senior managers are passionate about their work

Now this is shocking. Having a leader who isn't passionate about their work will have a major impact on staff morale across the company.

4. 2/3 of employees feel overwhelmed at work

Being stressed at work is a very common complaint, but one that can be resolved by better management and delegation of tasks. Make sure you give staff time during the week to catch up and focus on professional development – they'll end up being more efficient in the long run.

5. 50% of adults work more than 40 hours a week

Working over 40 hours a week isn't good for work-life balance, employee happiness, productivity, creativity or staff retention. In fact, people who work less hours often work smarter, so they get more done in less time.

6. Only 51% of employees feel engaged at work

Employee engagement is the most crucial part of staff retention as pay, passion, progress opportunities and work-life balance all feed into engagement. Crack this and you've sorted your employee retention issues.

7. Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their organisation than disengaged staff

You wouldn't keep watching a boring TV programme – you'd change channel. Talented employees are the same. They won't stay in a role they find boring, they'll find something that's more of a challenge.

8. The most common reasons employees quit their job are:

· Lack of professional development opportunities – 30%

· Inadequate pay and benefits – 28%

· Boredom or lack of challenge – 27%

· Poor work-life balance – 20%

9. 35% of employees will look for a new job this year because of their salary

Employees who are unsatisfied with their salary are constantly on the hunt for a bigger cheque, so make sure you keep your pay policy transparent and fair.

10. Replacing an employee costs between 50% and 150% of their annual salary

If this doesn’t give you goosebumps, we don’t know what will. Replacing an employee is hugely expensive. From recruitment expenses to repeated training, the costs involved are out of this world, so anything you can do to retain your talent will have a positive impact on your budget!

The numbers paint a pretty daunting picture – so what's the solution?

If you don't want to become another scary statistic, follow our 5 simple steps to improve staff retention.