How to Reduce Employee Turnover

How to Reduce Employee Turnover

High employee turnover hurts a company’s bottom line. Experts estimate it costs upwards of twice an employee’s salary to find and train a replacement. And churn can damage morale among remaining employees.

Here are some ways to lower turnover in your workplace:

– Hiring the right people from the start, most experts agree, is the single best way to reduce employee turnover. Interview and vet candidates carefully, not just to ensure they have the right skills but also that they fit well with the company culture, managers and co-workers.

– Setting the right compensation and benefits is important too. Work with human resources to get current data on industry pay packages, and get creative when necessary with benefits, flexible work schedules and bonus structures.

– Review compensation and benefits packages at least annually. Pay attention to trends in the marketplace and have HR update you.

– Pay attention to employees’ personal needs and offer more flexibility where you can. Consider offering to telecommute, compressed schedules or on-site or backup day care.

– Bolster employees’ engagement. Employees need social interaction and a rewarding work environment. They need respect and recognition from managers, and a challenging position with room to learn and move up.

– Managers often overlook how important a positive work environment is for staffers, and how far meaningful recognition and praise from managers can go to achieve that. Awards, recognition and praise might just be the single most cost-effective way to maintain a happy, productive workforce.

Simple emails of praise at the completion of a project, monthly memos outlining achievements of your team to the wider division, and peer-recognition programs are all ways to inject some positive feedback into a workforce. Also, consider reporting accomplishments up the chain. A thank you note to the employee is good. Copying higher-ups make that note even more effective.

To make it easier to identify accomplishments, ask your team for weekly or monthly updates of their achievements. Ask for specific numbers, examples or emails of praise from co-workers or customers.

– Outline challenging, clear career paths. Employees want to know where they could be headed and how they can get there. Annual reviews or midyear check-ins are one obvious venue for these discussions, but you should also encourage workers to come to you with career questions and wishes throughout the year.

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