A high staff turnover rate can be a big problem in business. Not only is it costly and time consuming constantly replacing employees, but it reduces productivity, reduces morale and is an indicator that something isn’t quite right within your business. Since your staff are the many hands that make light work, and are what keeps your company running each day, getting hold of (and keeping) the right people is absolutely crucial. If you’ve found that lots of staff members are leaving after a short space of time, here are some areas you could address.
Get The Selection Process Right
To avoid high staff turnover in the first place, you need to get the right people on board from the get-go. Ideally you’re looking for people who already have the skills and experience needed for the role you’re advertising, otherwise transferable skills or something about them that makes it worth you spending the time and money training them up. Perhaps they have done a lot of voluntary work in the field you’re in, or something else which shows they genuinely want the position and would work hard for you if given it. Your job ad should be carefully written so that it describes the role accurately and doesn’t dress it up. This will prevent people from taking the job and leaving because it’s not what they thought or doesn’t live up to expectations. During the interview process, really dig deep and find out everything you can about the candidate, this helps you to make an informed decision so you know You should reference staff members to make sure everything checks out with what they have said, and to give you peace of mind when it comes to things like their criminal history. You could use specialist companies to find the best applicants, for example for payroll you could use payroll recruiters who will have people with the right skills on their books and ready to get into work. Get the selection process right and get the right team members on board in the first place and you’re likely to experience less staff turnover.
Look At The Salary and Employee Benefits You Are Offering
The salary and benefits you offered to employees in the beginning might have seemed like a fair deal. But perhaps their workload has changed, they’re putting in extra effort or they’re run off their feet constantly. In these cases, offering a raise (or accepting a request for a raise) might be an option. Employee benefits can include medical dental, retirement and disability plans, as well as added bonuses like a company car. With these kinds of benefits along with a fair wage, employees are likely to feel secure in their job meaning they’re less likely to stray and find somewhere else to work. Even something as simple as the occasional free work lunch or dinner is something that employees will appreciate, it’s a chance for the team to spend time together and improve bonds too. If it’s been a while since you looked at what you’re offering to employees then revisit this. You could even find out what kinds of packages your competitors offer so you can ensure you’re keeping up with them. That way, employees have less motivation to hand in their notice with you in search of a better deal elsewhere.
Keep an Eye Out For Bullying and Harassment
One of the main reasons people will quit a job is because they’re unhappy with the people they are working with. Workplace bullying and harassment can be a huge problem, and if you have lots of new staff members quitting quite early on then this could well be the cause. This kind of negative behaviour is very bad news for your company, by staff members forcing others out it costs you time and money and so is something that should be addressed. Enforce a no bullying policy, and encourage people to report any issues they see. You could have an anonymous reporting so that people feel confident reporting without worrying about anything coming back to them. Bullying and harassment claims should be taken very seriously, if not your company could well end up with a lawsuit on it’s hands. HR usually deals with these issues, if you don’t want to deal with HR on site then you could always outsource to a specialist company. They will tackle hiring, firing and everything in between.
Ask Staff Where You’re Going Wrong
Finally, one of the best ways to find out the cause of the issue is to ask those who have handed in their notice. Sometimes they may be reluctant to say, but otherwise you will get a good idea whether it’s to do with money, the job role not living up to expectations or the behaviour of other staff members. Either way, it gives you an idea what you need to work on to improve matters and reduce staff turnover from there. Since some staff might feel uncomfortable admitting in person, you could send up a survey in a follow up email once they have left. Check out workers reviews for your company on job sites too, for an insight to what previous workers thought.
Experiencing a high staff turnover can be frustrating as a business owner, particularly when you’re not sure exactly what the issue is. Work your way through the possible issues, in some cases you might need to put money into the problem to fix it. However this can save you cash in the long run since you won’t be constantly advertising, interviewing, training and reducing productivity of your staff. Once you have the right workforce in place who are happy and content in their role and good at their job, you will reap the rewards of more profits and more motivated employees.
What do you do to lower your staff turnover rate? Have you ever experienced this, and what specifically did you do to fix things?
