9 Secrets to reducing your employee turnover

One of the areas that I support businesses with is attracting and retaining key talent.

This is one of the biggest challenges a business can face and can be equally costly.

It is so essential for a business to recognise its team's value and look at ways to hold onto top performers.

There are several reasons that employee turnover exists. From my experience from conducting exit interviews, the overwhelming reasons are usually more money, better benefits, career progression, better work-life balance and because of dissatisfaction with their manager.

For me, these things fall under the umbrella of ‘company culture’, which can include a company's values, career opportunities, compensation and benefits, work-life balance, and the effect of senior leadership.?

One of the areas that I can support effectively is reducing employee turnover, which will have a positive affect on the company's profitability.

Having the right people with the right skills is crucial to delivering the business strategy.

Once businesses identify suitable candidates, getting them to sign an employment contract can prove costly and time-consuming.?

Currently it is taking longer to hire people and most businesses are having to increase pay. These rising costs offer more incentive to want to reduce turnover.

Here are my '9 secrets' to reducing turnover:

Employee turnover is preventable and slight changes in career development opportunities, work-life balance, manager relationships, compensation and overall wellbeing can make a significant difference.

#1 Hire the right people?

It is essential to ensure that candidates understand the company values and culture as part of the recruitment process. But a big part of hiring the right person is making sure that the recruiter is looking for the right person from the beginning.?

Less than half of workers believe that job descriptions reflect actual job responsibilities, and a third have left a job in the first 90 days because it was not what they expected.

Businesses should also invest time into getting to know the candidate by whatever means available prior to offer.?

#2 Offer competitive salaries and total compensation

Pay and benefits are key reasons people take jobs and show up for work every day.?

It is also a top reason professionals change jobs.?

It, therefore, will not be a surprise that higher pay tops the list of what would convince workers to stay, followed by time off and benefits.

Companies should start by offering an appropriate starting salary to attract qualified and talented candidates.?

They should also offer regular salary reviews and monitor what other companies pay for similar roles, especially when it comes to hard-to-fill jobs.?

#3 Reward and recognise your team

This is an easy turnover reduction strategy to implement.?

A simple "thank you" and show of appreciation either spoken or written for the work employees put in every day can go a long way.?

This is where it is essential to have managers who have received the appropriate training and development. Those team members whose manager's feedback left them with positive feelings are significantly more likely to be engaged.

#4 Offer flexibility

The pandemic has changed how we all think about work and individuals are now looking for more flexibility.

Giving the team more job flexibility will boost retention.?

Some recent surveys have shown that team members would be more loyal if flexible work options were available.

If a business is too rigid and does not offer flexibility, do not be surprised if individuals vote with their feet.

#5 Prioritise work-life balance

Work-life balance is a struggle for many employees and can lead to burnout, leaving them looking for another role.?

More than half of workers say employers encourage them to work on the weekends or after hours, and 30% have found themselves working on a project past midnight. That trend is more pronounced for older workers, married, and those who have children.

The key to ensuring work-life balance becomes integrated into the company's culture is making it clear that everyone can take advantage of policies meant to keep employees happy — and feel comfortable doing so.

It is critical always to watch employee engagement because higher employee engagement translates to lower turnover rates.?

Many of the effort’s businesses launched to improve engagement focused on meeting their social and emotional needs.?

Several things influence engagement, but a critical factor in a relationship the employee has with their manager.

#6 Define and develop the company culture?

Company culture can mean many things, but it refers to the shared attitudes and beliefs that define a workplace and affect employees' experience.?

Culture plays a significant role in how much employees enjoy their job.?

You cannot change or strengthen a culture without first identifying what type of culture the company has.?

#7 Standardize performance reviews

Another not-so-surprising turnover predictor is unproductive or infrequent performance reviews.

The traditional performance review, a static, annual, or biannual event consisting of reviewing an Excel spreadsheet with static goals does not exactly inspire. It may do more harm than good.?

Making the performance review a collaborative, dynamic, and continuous process that improves the relationship between an employee and a manager, rather than putting up walls between them, is the way to go.?

#8 Allow development opportunities

Employees care about training that can strengthen existing skills or build new ones.

Think creatively when it comes to training. Traditional daylong training sessions may not be the best use of time or the type of engagement they seek. Businesses with outstanding training make room for it within a person's "day job" and actively encourage it.

Develop career paths and opportunities to gain experience. One of the primary reasons people leave companies is a lack of career growth.?

Businesses that encourage cross-functional projects, identify existing employees' skills and connect upskilling to internal opportunities have found these strategies help with internal recruiting and can convince workers to stick around.

# 9 Focus on induction

Induction is often a new employee's first introduction to a business's culture. It is tough to recover from a bad induction experience.?

Employees who have negative new induction experiences are twice as likely to explore new opportunities early on in their tenure.

But minor improvements in the process can leave positive first impressions that last. Indeed, employees are more likely to stay with the company for several years after a good induction experience. Better induction leads to faster time to productivity.

All these things can be achieved.

A CEO of a large PR agency approach me and ask for my support with attracting and retaining key talent.

They were facing difficulty as the turnover rates were unmanageable and they were not able to attract the right individuals with the right skills and experience.

I developed a plan and we have systematically worked through the above steps over the last 6 months.

This is what she said:

“Twelve months ago, we were in a difficult position where employee turnover was extremely high and we were having difficulty in recruiting.

Heather started supporting us and quickly identified some of the root causes. From this she prepared an action plan which we have been working through together.

The result is that staff turnover has slowed, and we are now recruiting for the right skills.

I cannot thank Heather enough; she is now certainly part of the team. Also, she has saved us, at the last count, ￡85,000, which cannot be bad.

If you are having difficult with retention and attracting the right skills certainly get Heather involved”.

We are now in an environment where there are many positions with diverse types of rewards on offer, as a business you need to ensure that you are positioning your business as an employer of choice.

Contact me if you want to retain your key talent and ensure your business is one that individuals are attracted to.