Even wonderful employers face the occasional loss of a worker. The employee turnover rate across all industries is 10.9 percent, representing a range between 13.2 percent in the technology (software) industry and 10.8 percent in financial services. These figures have been rising steadily as the economy grows stronger and workers feel more confident. Regardless of your industry numbers, however, losing a key employee is always painful. When you receive notice from a talented, productive team member - someone you were happy to hire and who has moved your company forward in a good way - you may wonder whether you could have done something better. Here are five helpful questions to ask yourself in order to avoid (or at least minimize) the number of times you'll face employee turnover.
1. Do your employees feel engaged?
When Gallup investigated the factors that make someone decide to quit their job, they found that salary is important -- but only up to a point. They note that "there are tangible actions -- other than simply increasing pay -- that leaders can take to keep workers around." One of the most important measures of whether you're likely to face employee turnover is your workforce’s level of engagement. Gallup found that when workers feel fully engaged (interested, motivated, aligned with company goals and mission), only 37 percent would consider leaving if they were offered another job, even if it paid one-fifth more.
So how do you ensure this elusive quality of engagement? It's not complicated: You simply have to monitor and support your workers' well-being. Below are questions to ask yourself as you dive deeper into whether you're supporting your employees' well-being.
2. Do you offer flexible scheduling?
Employees often view the ability to set their own schedule as a make-or-break perk. Over 20 percent say that work-life balance is a main reason for staying at their current job. Even if they initially accepted a job with you on a rigidly scheduled basis, they may jump ship if they're recruited by another company that's more flexible.
The important thing to recognize is that employees may not bring this up as an issue with you. Gallup revealed that fewer than one-third of millennials are comfortable raising personal life issues with their supervisor, but silence doesn't necessarily imply that everything's fine. The Balance recommends automatically offering flexible starting and ending times, reminding managers that "Yes, his son's soccer game is as important as work."
3. Do you reward excellent performance?
Those outstanding employees don't burn the midnight oil finishing a knockout project only for their own satisfaction. While they do care about accomplishing good work, your top employees also want recognition and rewards for going the extra mile. The Balance adds, "Your key employees are motivated when their above-average efforts are recognized and rewarded."
How you build and sustain a culture of recognition can be your key to addressing employee turnover. Our recent blog post provides helpful tips on how to make recognition an everyday event in your workplace: You can put an employee recognition platform in place that offers both monetary and social recognition and brainstorm creative campaign ideas. Whichever approach you plan to take with your recognition and rewards offering, make sure to let your best employees know how much you value them on a frequent basis.
4. Do you foster their career growth?
If you have an employee who's doing a stellar job exactly where they are, you may not feel excited about training them to move on to a different role. The reality of today's work world, however, does not include people spending decades in a single job. Gallup research finds that 93 percent of millennials seeking new roles had to change jobs to meet their goals. If you have a talented and conscientious worker, you'll keep those sterling qualities in the service of your business for much longer if you offer the person a realistic career advancement path.
TalentCulture notes, "People are most attracted to jobs they know offer opportunities for personal and professional advancement." You can keep your best worker on a solid path into the future by wise succession planning, integrated with learning and development opportunities and mentoring within your company.
5. Do you gather employee feedback?
Gathering employee feedback on a regular basis is the best way to keep your finger on the pulse of engagement and prevent employee turnover. When employees see managers and leaders take action on their feedback, they'll feel empowered and supported.
Unfortunately, only 34 percent of companies believe that their employees actively provide feedback to the organization and leaders. How can companies motivate employees to provide honest feedback? For starters, 64 percent of employees want an always-on feedback tool to access. With an always-on feedback tool in place, you can give employees the opportunity to share their thoughts at any time of the day or night. Collecting feedback is just one piece of the puzzle though; always remember to respond to it for maximum impact.
Don't lose sight of employee turnover
We live in a fast-paced world with new innovations arising every day. While it’s important to stay focused on how to stay ahead of the competition, we must never lose sight of our employees and their well-being. Employee turnover not only impacts your company’s productivity and team morale, but it is costly. A report from the Center for American Progress found that employee turnover can cost organizations up to 213 percent of the lost employee’s salary.
As you review your management skills, stay informed on employee turnover rates, and develop fresh new ways to meet your team's needs, you'll find yourself less frequently in the position of having to replace a valued worker.
Did you know "lack of recognition" is the third biggest reason people say they are or would consider leaving their jobs? Access Achievers' 2020 Engagement and Retention Report to learn more key stats and findings.
Do you have any thoughts on this article? Share your comments below.