Unlike the glorified generations before us, the modern workforce is one that knows what it wants and isn’t afraid to make demands. Moreover, it’s one characterized by impermanence – employees aren’t afraid to leave if they don’t feel like they’re getting what they want. In this kind of environment, how do you reduce employee turnover?
High turnover rates are both a troubling reality in today’s work environment and a huge problem for employers. According to salary.com, workplace turnover has been on the rise since 2014, with a 22.9% increase in the past few years, alone.
While many believe that higher pay, more days off, and other traditional employee benefits are the solutions to this issue, they’re only short-fix bandaids, at best.
In our post, we look at what any organization aiming to reduce employee turnover needs to consider before they implement any solutions.
The modern employee is someone who needs to feel connected to their workplace and in tune with its goals. One of the best ways to ensure that your employees feel connected and secure is by showing them you care.
This can mean any number of things, and as someone involved in the day-to-day life in your company, you may know what to do to make employees feel this way. Beyond just telling them you care, you need to make actual gestures that show them that you mean business.
Remember, in the absence of any effort, individuals won’t feel supported in their professional and personal goals. There’s no loyalty in 2019 to organizations that don’t do the work to deserve it.
Here’s another uncomfortable truth, many employees leave companies to escape difficult managers. In fact, certain sources state that at some point, 50% of Americans leave their job because of their direct manager.
If you’re experiencing high levels of turnover, you must try to understand why this is happening. Departing employees may either be forthright about this or you may need to do a little investigation yourself. Regardless, it’s imperative that you identify where or who the problem is.
If it is a manager that’s the problem, perhaps further training and a review of their leadership style may be necessary.
This is another important factor you need to consider in your mission to reduce employee turnover. Is turnover take place predominantly at the manager level, among leaders or among employees who’ve been at the company for less than a year?
It’s also possible for turnover to take place among certain ethnic groups, genders, age groups, and other demographic markers. Your job is to whip out your magnifying glass and understand if there are any shared characteristics between those who are leaving your company and why this is happening.
This is another big question you need to get to answering if you want to reduce employee turnover in your company. If you notice a trend of employees leaving before they can even complete their first 90 days, then you know there’s something up with your culture or your hiring and onboarding process.
In the case of recruitment, preventing turnover comes down to hiring the right people for the jobs in question. Beyond reported skills, knowledge, and experience, success in a particular position can come down to personality traits and attitudes that otherwise go unreported.
A classic example here is of a grade-school teacher. Regardless of skills and experience, a teacher is someone that is ideally patient, just, and level-headed – to name just a few of the required traits.
The question, then, is how employers can canvass these skills in a world where hiring is done through resumes and interviews. The answer is just as simple; psychometric personality tests for the workplace.
Unlike pop psychology, some of these tests are based on DNA behavior and are driven by human science. They dive into an individual’s core attitudes, thought patterns, and behaviors to come up with a profile with actionable insights for the workplace.
Ultimately, these help employers hire people with the right attitudes and dispositions for each job.
High employee turnover is a reality that haunts thousands of businesses around the world. Tackling it isn’t easy either – often, companies need to make large-scale changes to their structure, practices, and policies before any improvement is made.
In this process, digging for the truth behind the numbers is exceedingly important. It’s only by doing so that you understand what requires the greatest attention.
