All businesses expect some staff turnover. Naturally, employees retire, find other jobs or move to different cities. As a business owner, you can’t do much about these, but there are several tactics you can use to reduce staff turnover.
Loopin, a company specializing in employee well-being, has identified six factors in the workplace that contribute to high staff turnover. These include a lack of growth, unclear mission or goals, and too much workload. Understanding and addressing these factors can reduce staff turnover and lower associated costs.
1. Minimal Growth Opportunities
People compare their careers, assets, and net worth with colleagues, family, and friends. One of the main reasons that employees leave is to accelerate their careers and make more money. Companies that do not provide internal opportunities to existing staff risk employees feeling unappreciated.
In such situations, employees often feel stuck in their roles and turn to external opportunities to progress their careers. Disrupted employees can often harm the company culture by ‘quiet quitting’ and lowering overall productivity.
Employers can address this by creating a structured approach to internal promotions.
A formalized process requires:
- Clear job expectations, and
- Transparent performance metrics that employees will be measured against to get promoted.
Clear communication and consistent employee evaluations are critical to making this process successful over the long term.
Employers should also provide training resources for employees to improve their skills and grow in their current roles.
2. Lack of Feedback
Providing timely and objective feedback to employees can positively affect performance and retention.
One of the best ways to provide feedback is with regular 1-on-1s. Besides being a sign of commitment from management, 1-on-1s are a crucial factor for employee success.
Employees can discuss any issues and work with managers to remove any obstacles. Managers can provide continuous feedback on performance and address frustrations rather than waiting till the end of the year.
Most importantly, 1-on-1s are an excellent opportunity to discuss employees’ goals, objectives, and career aspirations. Combined with a structured promotion pathway, timely feedback can help employees understand what they need to do to get promoted or feel fulfilled.
3. Micromanagement
As per Wikipedia, micromanagement is “a management style whereby a manager closely observes, controls, and/or reminds the work of their subordinates.”
Micromanagement drives employees away because it signifies a lack of trust and freedom. Excessive supervision stifles creativity and motivation, reducing productivity and employee burnout.
Employees feel motivated and encouraged when they are trusted. It allows them to shine and enables management to identify skilled workers.
Managers can zoom out of micromanagement by combining frequent feedback with clear objectives and expectations when assigning tasks. Providing support while encouraging independent problem-solving is a delicate balance.
4. Lack of Flexible Working
Flexible working options are a must these days. The global pandemic helped workers realize they could have a better work-life balance.
Flex hours or remote working is a practical solution for employees who have long commutes, need to take care of children, or have disabilities, among other reasons.
44% of Americans also need time to pursue side hustles and save money for their goals.
Without flexible working options, employees may move to a different company that provides this benefit.
Besides employee retention, companies can benefit from providing flexible working conditions. These benefits include reduced operational costs, improved productivity, and better prospects for attracting talent.
5. Overworking Employees
Every company has high load times when employees have additional responsibilities, but consistent overworking can lead to burnout and high turnover. This is a huge problem right now, with many companies implementing layoffs, leading to additional workload for the remaining employees.
Management should pay close attention to work distribution and ensure realistic timelines. Managers can also rely on 1-on-1s to gauge stress levels, discover their employees’ feelings about the workload, and modify it as needed.
Of course, underworking employees is also not a solution. Companies should ensure that employees have enough work and understand their role in the company’s overall mission, vision, and success.
6. Feeling Undervalued and Unappreciated
Free lunches and air hockey tables may be lovely, but they only hint at what is required to develop a culture in which employees feel cared for, valued, and understood.
Employees who are unmotivated and feel they need to be more appreciated may consider changing jobs. We have seen it happen time and time again. Your tenured and experienced employees will leave if they think their opinion is not valued or their work does not contribute to the company’s vision.
It is important to listen actively and recognize hard work in a way that has the most significant impact if you wish to keep your best employees. Companies must understand individuals’ demands, values, needs, and hopes to help them achieve their aspirations.
Frequent 1-on-1s, structured employee appreciation programs, and recognition from senior executives are all ways to showcase the value your employees bring to the company.
A spokesperson from Loopin commented:
“It’s vital that employers consider the reasons for high employee turnover, particularly if they are due to factors that can be prevented in the future. This requires spotting signs at the earliest opportunity and having a true understanding of employee concerns.
“High staff turnover not only affects the efficiency of a business but also comes at a huge cost to businesses too.
“It’s essential to understand the reasons why past employees have left to prepare for the foreseeable and secure future business success.”
Featured Image Credit: Pexels.