Whether or not you run a successful company depends mainly on the people working there. Your company will likely thrive if you have a tight-knit group of hardworking professionals. But, if your employees constantly leave your company, and you need to hire others to replace them, you can hardly hope to build reliable teams. Therefore, what you need to focus on is reducing employee turnover by giving your employees clear incentives to stay. Well, we’re here to show you how.
Reducing employee turnover
If you have a high employee turnover rate, there must be a reason behind it. Your employees might harbor a toxic work environment without you being aware. Or, your competitors might offer benefits that never crossed your mind. Perhaps you simply might not give your employees a clear reason to stay. Whatever the case may be, it is paramount that you outline what the problem is. A high employee turnover is always a bad sign, and you want to do everything in your power to lower it as much as possible.
What we will outline now are the six tried and proper ways of reducing employee turnover. It would be best if you didn’t try to implement them all at once, as doing so will likely cause too much disruption in your company. Instead, try to outline the root causes of your high employee turnover and see which solution will address them best. With luck, one or two of these solutions will cause a significant change in employee turnover.
Find the right people
Let’s start off with the obvious. Having the right people working for you is the first step. If you don’t employ the right people for your company, you will not only suffer due to their poor performance but also likely drive away the people that would be suitable. Therefore, above all else, value the quality of the people you hire. Take close note of their temperament, character, and work ethics. You’d be surprised at how long company owners can be oblivious to how productive (or unproductive) their employees can be. And keep in mind that one bad apple can ruin the entire basket. So, before anything else, ensure that you are entirely aware of what your employees are like and that you are ignoring the obvious flaws.
Work on retention from the get-go
Another thing to note, especially if you are just starting your company, is that you need to work on worker retention from the get-go. If you’ve already started your company, and haven’t bothered much about worker retention, know it is better late than never. But, the general rule of thumb is that the sooner you start worrying about whether your employees will stay with you, the sooner you will take measures to keep them around.
Know that it is much easier to build your company with the reputation of low employee turnover than combat having a big one. This is because decent employees will see your substantial employee turnover and avoid applying for your company if possible. And if you need to let go of certain employees, it will be much easier to do so if they haven’t already worked for you for years.
Communicate with employees
The best way to learn what will keep your employees around is to talk to them. More often than not, it is the lack of communication that causes them to leave and leaves the bosses stumped. So, to help mitigate this, try to establish a line of communication with your employees where they feel that their opinions matter and that they won’t be punished for them. Know that not all employees are accustomed or even courageous enough to say what bothers them. But also know that what bothers them will cause them to leave. Especially if they are skillful enough to have other options. Listen to what they say about company procedures and work in general. You can use this feedback to improve the quality of their workday significantly.
Another important aspect of communication is not to keep your employees in the dark. Always make sure that they are thoroughly familiar with how the company is doing and whether you plan to make any changes. So, if you plan to relocate your company, let them know in advance. Preparing employees for a move is equally essential as preparing for the move itself. If you plan to make company-wide changes to improve worker retention, also let them know in advance. Ideally, they will have both the motivation and the ideas to help you out. And if not, at least they will feel appreciated.
Outline a clear career path
Assume that each of your employees wants to advance. From the newcomers to your company to the people that worked there for years. Everyone wants to know that their careers will advance if they put in the time and effort. A typical moment where driven employees seek other employment is once they feel they’ve reached a dead end in your company. So, to avoid this makes sure that you outline clear career paths. You want to avoid any type of confusion and vagueness regarding your employees’ future. Instead, outline how their careers can improve and what benefits those improvement stands to bring.
Help your employees improve
The last way of reducing employee turnover is to help your employees improve. It would help if you made them feel you value their hard work and willingness to improve. Furthermore, you need to provide them with tools for improvement and encourage them to better themselves.
You’d be surprised at how grateful people are to those that help them better themselves. And how willing they are to stay loyal to those that believed in them. So, always try to give your employees ways to improve their skills, and don’t shy away from rewarding them once they do.