The 8 steps of reducing employee turnover
Step 1: Hire the right employees
One of the best ways to improve overall retention rate is to improve the company’s hiring strategies. Employers should look for prospective candidates who not only have the necessary skill sets but who also fit well with the company. Employers should develop a strong employer brand that matches the company culture and identify candidates that “fit” well within it.
Step 2: Maintain competitive salaries and benefits
Employees still consider salary as one of the most important factors when looking for a job. Today’s employees also put a considerable emphasis on special benefits and perks, even unconventional ones, such as gym memberships, work-from-home options, and flexible work hours. A recent Glassdoor’s report shows that 57 percent of respondents list salary and benefits as the leading factors when deciding whether to accept a job offer or not. Therefore, continuously reevaluating your salary and benefits package can help you to not only attract high performers, but also to reduce employee turnover.
Step 3: Develop an effective onboarding process
Attracting and hiring the right employees is only the first step. Effective onboarding is linked to improved employee engagement, faster time-toproductivity rates, and better new hire assimilation. Setting up an effective onboarding system, or even implementing a specialized employee onboarding software makes it easy to develop a comprehensive new hire onboarding process that can increase engagement and retention.
Step 4: Offer employees a healthy work-life balance
In one recent study, employees ranked having a healthy work-life balance as one of the most critical factors, second only to salaries, in accepting a job offer. While not all employers can offer flexible work schedules, they can make it easier for their employees to manage paid leave and vacation time. Consider installing easy-to-use leave management software that allows employees to request and managers to approve paid leave and vacation time through a cloud-based interface.
Step 5: Create learning and development programs
Learning and development not only benefit the company but can also help to ensure that high performers stay around. The program and its criteria should be fair, transparent, and understood by employees, managers, and supervisors at all levels. Otherwise, such program that appears unfair or biased could have the reverse effect and increase attrition.
Step 6: Remove toxic employees
If you aim to reduce employee turnover, it may seem counterproductive to consider terminating some employees. However, involuntary turnover is sometimes more than necessary. Toxic staff members can destroy workplace morale and drive even the most loyal employees to seek employment elsewhere. It’s best to cut ties with employees who either help create a toxic workplace environment or can’t meet the company’s expectations.
Step 7: Recognize top performers
Employees are more likely to stay with a company if they receive regular recognition. Not only does it boost retention, but employee recognition also seems to boost productivity, workplace safety rates, and employee engagement. To keep the best employees around and reduce costly turnover rates, it is crucial that the company develop a program to recognize top performers for a job well done. Reducing employee turnover is an ongoing process that requires consistent monitoring. Some of the steps listed above may be more effective for your organization than others. It is up to your managers to determine which ones have the highest impact and go from there. Tips for Reducing Employee Turnover Reducing employee turnover is dependent on the total work environment you offer for employees. Employees thrive when the work environment supports them in attaining their goals and dreams. The best employees for your organization share your vision and values about what they want to experience at work. These recommendations about reducing employee turnover are also common-sense, basic and incredibly hard to find in organizations today. Wonder why this is so? It’s because many organizations have not figured out that valuing employees is a win-win for employers and employees. Valuing employees is also a win for reducing key employee turnover.
Select the right people in the first place through behavior-based testing and competency screening. Sure, an onsite interview gives you a feel for whether the person can fit within your culture, but your key to selecting the best employees is to determine how well they can do the job. The right person, in the right seat, on the right bus is the starting point.
At the same time, don’t neglect to hire people with the innate talent, ability, and smarts to work in almost any position even if you don’t currently have the best match available. Hire the smartest people you can find to reduce employee turnover—their versatility will make them exceptional contributors. You just need to make sure that they are not bored doing the same old thing. Think about job enrichment and promotions.
Offer an attractive, competitive, comprehensive benefits package with components such as life insurance, disability insurance and flexible hours. One young employee whose stated reason for accepting a job offer was the availability of a 401(k) match is not the exception. Research on Millennials and money indicates that they do not want to repeat the mistakes of their parents. Better benefits equal reduced employee turnover.
Provide opportunities for people to share their knowledge on-the-job via training sessions, presentations, mentoring others and team assignments. Employees like to share what they know; the act of teaching others ensures the employee’s own learning. Training others is the best indicator of learning.
Demonstrate respect for employees at all times. Listen to them deeply; use their ideas; never ridicule or shame them. Via your communication, share that you value them.
Offer performance feedback and praise good efforts and results to reduce employee turnover. Your recognition of employee contributions is your most powerful form of employee reinforcement and retention. People want to know that their work matters and makes a difference.
People want to enjoy their work. Make work fun. Engage and employ the special talents of each individual. A day without laughter should be abnormal for employees.
Enable employees to balance work and life. Allow flexible starting times, core business hours and flexible ending times. (Yes, his son’s soccer game is as important as work.)
Involve employees in decisions that affect their jobs and the overall direction of the company whenever possible. Involve them in the discussion about company vision, mission, values, and goals. This strategic framework will never live for them or become owned by them if they merely read it in email or hanging on the wall.
Recognize excellent performance, and especially, link pay to performance to reduce employee turnover. Your key employees are motivated when their above-average efforts are recognized and rewarded. They are discouraged when they see underperforming employees rewarded equivalently.
Base the upside of bonus potential on the success of both the employee and the company and make it limitless within company parameters. (As an example, pay 10 percent of corporate profits to employees.)
Recognize and celebrate success. Mark their passage as important goals are achieved. Bring in pizza or breakfast to celebrate reaching milestones and turn the occasion into a brief ceremony while you celebrate success.
Staff adequately so overtime is minimized for those who don’t want it and people don’t wear themselves out. You will discover that salaried employees who are engaged and excited will work the hours necessary to get their jobs done.
Nurture and celebrate organization traditions. Have a costume party every Halloween. Run a food collection drive every November. Pick a monthly charity to help. Have an annual company dinner at a fancy hotel.
Provide opportunities within the company for cross-training and career progression. People like to know that they have room for career movement. This is a serious deterrent to employee turnover if the employee has a career path that excites them.
Provide the opportunity for career and personal growth through training and education, challenging assignments and more responsibility.
Communicate goals, roles, and responsibilities so that people know what is expected and they feel like part of the in-crowd.
According to research by the Gallup organization, encourage employees to have good, even best, friends, at work. This will increase their commitment to you as an employer.
Now that you have the list that will reduce employee turnover, why not work to make your organization one of the few, the best, that truly honors and appreciates employees. If you treat your employees wonderfully, you will seriously reduce employee turnover and employee complaints. You will become known as a great employer, an employer to whom the best and brightest will flock—and stay, stay, stay.
Step 8: Exit Interview:
An exit interview is a wrap-up meeting between management representatives and someone who is leaving an organization. The purpose of exit interview is to gather useful feedback that can help guide future practices and improve recruiting and retention. In a corporate environment, exit interviews are usually conducted by human resources personnel. Alternatively, depending on the size of the company and other factors, interviews may be conducted by management to an HR service provider. The interview may be conducted in person, over the phone, through chat or email, or in an online survey. In general, interactive methods are considered more useful than surveys because they allow interviewers to respond to the employee and develop follow-up questions that can yield more in-depth information. Whether an employee quits or is fired, it may be profitable to ask what they liked most about the job and what they liked least. If a number of employees mention problems working with a particular manager, for example, that is an issue that should be explored. When an employee is fired for inadequate performance, it can be useful to ask if they believe business practices or other corporate issues contributed to the problem. The exit interview is also an opportunity to provide the employee with information about any benefits and pay yet to be disbursed and any agreements in force between the business and the employee.
Some Exit Interview Questions are given below.
Why are you leaving your position, or what led you to the decision to leave?
How do you feel about management, and do you have any feedback or suggestions for how we can improve?
Was there a time when you felt proud of your work?
Do you feel you received proper and complete training?
Did you feel properly supported by your manager?
What’s the hardest thing about working here?
Do you think the company supported your career goals?
Would you recommend this company to others seeking employment?
What were your criteria for choosing a new employer?
Would you consider staying on?
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