More often than not, you will see a long-time employee suddenly resigning from their job. Managers are caught by surprise by their resignation since they see nothing wrong with working conditions. Most people leave the company because of marriage, children, move, and sad events in their lives, or at least this is what managers want to believe. The reasons are quite different and most of time, the problems are connected to the lack of communication and understanding. For this reason, find a way to turn around employee turnover, either with management or intranet solutions.
Money is not the answer to everything
Most people do get a job because they need money. It is only a plus if they find a job they enjoy. However, money cannot buy love even in the workplace. Many managers believe that the best way to turn around employee turnover is by offering more money. Granted, some employees might change their minds after a raise but this is only trying to save a sinking ship. In a couple of years, that same employee might change their mind and resign again. For this reason, do not offer money as a way to keep your employees, but rather, find a reason behind their move. Unpleasant working conditions are the main cause for the sudden resignations.
Five Conditions for Turnover
You can prevent employee turnover if you can recognize signals from the start.
- Bad management – if your employees find management lacking, their instruction confusing, materials incomplete, then do not hope for the best. They will likely resign quickly.
- Coworkers’ feedbacks – listen to your employees and see if they are complaining about their coworker’s lack of commitment.
- Unsuitable fit for the job – employees who believe that they do not fit well into the community or for the job will likely quit.
- Unable to connect – employees who cannot commit fully commit or connect with the company, will most likely resign.
- Pay and benefits – money is always one of the reasons why people decide to leave the company.
Passive workplace
There is nothing worse when an employee hates their workplace. The reasons can be various, but most people complain about the low-engagement workplace. A low-engagement workplace fails to recognize its employees, offers rare opportunities for progress, and it has an overall negative atmosphere. Employees feel like they are not appreciated enough, they do not receive challenging tasks, thus they cannot learn anything valuable, and their relationship with other employees is bearable at best. No one wants to work in this type of work environment. For this reason, you should encourage team building. Make sure your employees can build strong relationships with their coworkers. Plan a couple of activities for team building. This will be extremely beneficial for your team.
The importance of managers
Managers play a huge role in employee turnover. They are responsible for creating a positive and productive environment. If you have managers who are not approachable, employees will not feel comfortable. They will not feel confident enough to voice their concern and complaints. This creates negative energy where employees feel unwelcomed. For this reason, choose your managers wisely. When you hire them, pay close attention to your managers. See how they interact with employees. Since managers usually act as a medium between employees and higher-ups, you have to find a competent person. Managers should be there for employees, value their opinions, be approachable and positive, follow the progress of the employees, offer constructive criticism and compliments when needed.
Aspects to improve or implement
Every company is different due to the services and products they offer. However, in order to increase employees’ satisfaction, here a couple of things you should do.
- An Annual Survey – conduct annuals employee survey to check your employees’ engagement. It should not last over 10 minutes or have more than 40 questions.
- Make a Goal – you will engage employees better if they have a common goal. For this reason, set a one-year goal where you and your employees can make and track progress.
- Improve your Work Culture – in the same survey, you should ask your employees how to improve the work culture. Based on their answers, find ways to make a workplace a comfortable place where your employees will feel appreciated.
- Engage the higher-ups – everyone should be included when improving employees’ engagement.
- Managers should be held accountable – managers should be the ones to improve workplace culture and to be held accountable for results.
The price of turnover
When you need to find a replacement for an employee, it will cost your company from one-half to five times of replaced employee’s annual salary. You can do the Math. The amount will increase if your company loses a long-term employee who was best for the job. You will need to spend time to teach the new employee how to do the job, all the subtleties of the job, etc. For this reason, turn around employee turnover instead of replacing employees.
