According to our 2019 Work Retention Report, 41.4 million employees in the U.S. switched jobs in 2018 alone. This is just one major example of how difficult retaining talent is. And, while the market is full of candidates, onboarding and training employees is difficult and costly. Furthermore, having a high employee turnover rate will cost your company more money, not just currently but in the long term, when it comes to seeking adept talent.
We understand how difficult reducing employee turnover can be at Work Institute, so we offer solutions based on hard, empirical data. This post outlines several actionable tips to help you improve your company’s retention rate. Get in touch with us to know more about how to tackle high turnover rates.
How to Reduce Employee Turnover
75% of cases of employees quitting their jobs are preventable. Below are the top things to implement to retain your business’s high performers and contributors.
Recognize and Reward Employees Early On
Employees who feel strongly connected to their company culture have a greater sense of purpose and collaboration. They have low burnout rates and are less likely to leave the company. The simplest way to ensure this is to recognize and reward your staff early on for their work.
Even simple notes of appreciation or “thank-yous” can go a long way. Another way to recognize employees is by giving them new opportunities. The feedback from an employee’s manager will be vital as it helps invoke feelings of satisfaction among employees. Peer-to-peer recognition programs and other forms of input from colleagues are equally impactful in helping in lowering employee turnover.
Identifying Development and Career Paths
Employees always seek opportunities to improve their skills or gain new ones. According to a PwC survey, people searching for employment in the U.S. said they were ready to sacrifice up to 12% of their salary to get more training.
Remember to think out of the box in the kind of training you offer. Travel-intensive training sessions or conventional daylong classrooms could be counterproductive for your employees. Instead, look for ways to incorporate the training into your employees’ normal work day. Try also to use technology and have smaller sessions, and remember to measure the training’s effectiveness.
Pay attention to the importance of training your staff for new work forms. Many organizations struggle to get people with the proper skills for the modern digital economy. Retraining and upskilling can help your company adapt to changes brought about by automation and use modern trends to innovate.
Encouraging Work-Life Balances
Many employees struggle to find work-life balance and become burned out, leaving them looking to change jobs. Most employees complain about being forced to work on projects late at night and employers encouraging them to work on weekends. There are numerous ways to help your staff have a better work-life balance, including offering remote work and flexible scheduling. This way, you can assist them in having less burnout and reduce employee turnover. Our studies show that the number of workers that have changed jobs in the last decade due to commute has risen by 400%. This is easy to solve, for example, by assigning remote work. Another great tactic is to offer employees time off and ensure that you respect that time off.
Ask, Listen, Communicate, Act
Much of employee turnover is preventable; all you need to do is ask, listen, communicate with your employees, and act on the above strategies. Work Institute has perfected this method since 2000, and we can also help you take control and improve your retention rates. Reach out to us today to learn how to reduce employee turnover.
