Identifying the cause of high employee turnover is paramount to reversing a costly trend. How do you stop people leaving for jobs they deem better than the one you provide and why are they seen as better?
High turnover of staff is costly for businesses as you have to factor in the costs of training a new employee. The productivity lost in the transition between employees is huge and often positive benefits of one employee are gone for good when they leave. Firstly you have to differentiate between good losses and bad. The last thing a company wants to do is to lose their best workers so they need to identify why they are leaving. The best way to do that is through exit interviews to ascertain why the employee has decided to leave and how long they have been contemplating the move.
These interviews are telling and can shake up businesses – ie. If a number of employees leave and complain about a specific manager you must consider whether replacing that manager will keep staff. However there are a number of ways to prevent employees leaving before they get to the exit stage.
The main task is to keep your workforce happy. Why would anyone leave a job when they are content and happy with the arrangements? People leave jobs when they are disgruntled with one or more problems at work. Here are some tips for keeping employees happy:
Create a comfortable work environment – that means the chairs, the temperature and the décor. Leave an employee on a hard chair in a cold, sparse office and they’ll soon be on the job websites. Don’t over compromise so that employees are too relaxed to work but make sure they aren’t distracted at any time by unsuitable working conditions.
Allow employees to personalise their work areas – as long as they keep to their personal space and don’t include anything that distracts them from working then employees should be free to personalise their workspace. This makes the office feel more like a place they are a part of and so want to be. Once everybody’s on board this will also give the company a personal touch and some colour – looking more attractive to clients.
Provide a break area – employees shouldn’t have to eat at their desks but also shouldn’t have to find somewhere outside of work to eat lunch. Providing a comfortable break area for employees to relax during their lunch breaks means they get a break from their work and a chance to chat to colleagues, creating a harmonious environment and developing relationships between employees not involving work projects.
Team building – team building exercises promote working relationships between staff and give employees a chance to see their managers’ human side. Learning to work together is great for increasing productivity as interaction is key to getting things done.
Regular reviews – the only way to stay on top of employee attitudes is through regular performance reviews. This is a great way of catching any problems early before they develop into something serious. A great method of review is 360 degree reviewing. This gives employees the chance to give feedback on managers and gives clients a say too. This ensures you have good customer/employee relationships and that you don’t have any problem managers. This also gives employees a chance to trust you as they have a say in how the company is run and don’t feel that managers are protected by position.
For more management hints and tips visit Silicon Beach Training’s Management Training Free Resources page.
Silicon Beach Training is a popular provider of a range of Management Training Courses including Key Management Skills Training and Communication and Interpersonal Skills Training.
