Three Ways to Reduce Your Employee Turnover

When an unskilled, unmotivated, unreliable worker quits it can be a relief.

But when a great employee leaves? That’s a tough pill to swallow. Losing good people is frustrating. Expensive. Stressful. But in many cases, turnover is preventable!

Looking for simple ways to reduce employee turnover?

In today’s low-unemployment market, high turnover can threaten your organization’s very survival. If too many employees are leaving for greener pastures, use these practical suggestions to keep them in the fold longer:

Hire for retention.

Combat turnover from day one by hiring people who are a great fit for the job AND your culture. Behavior-based interviews are an ideal way to assess whether a qualified candidate has the soft skills needed to mesh well with your corporate culture.

In this earlier post, we share a list of behavioral interview questions you can customize to determine if a candidate has important traits like self-awareness, empathy, social intelligence and self-control. By hiring people who are a good cultural fit, you may minimize workplace conflicts and other sources of friction among employees that contribute to turnover.

Give employees what they want.

In this earlier post, we reviewed the top reasons good employees quit – many of which are not related to money. To improve retention of high performers, eliminate the things that drive them away, and give them more of what they want:

• Career momentum. Create well-defined plans for promising employees to move up within your company. Training, mentors, challenging work and a culture that tolerates acceptable risk-taking and occasional failure can all help employees maintain upward momentum in their careers.
• Work/life satisfaction. Achieving a healthy work/life mix is a significant driver of retention among younger workers, particularly millennials. Consider ways to facilitate telecommuting, job sharing, compressed workweeks and flexible work schedules. By delivering the balance employees crave, you significantly increase job satisfaction, which is an effective antidote to turnover.

Fight Burnout.

Exhaustion, cynicism, heavy workloads and feelings of ineffectiveness can all contribute to employee burnout and drive good workers out the door. In this earlier post, we share several tips for nipping burnout in the bud and preventing unnecessary turnover, by:

• Resisting the urge to micromanage. Do managers in your organization hover, nitpick and inadvertently stifle employees? In this post, we explain how to spot micromanagement and loosen the reins a bit so employees are empowered to do great work.
• Making work fun. People want to enjoy their work! If your environment is a real pressure-cooker, help employees take occasional “fun breaks” from their demanding schedules to decompress, recharge and refocus.
• Frequently recognizing achievements. Provide opportunities for all types of workers to be recognized and rewarded for exceptional performance.

Frustrated with employee turnover? PrideStaff can help.

Our workforce management and recruiting experts can help you hire candidates who are a great cultural fit, minimize burnout and staff high-turnover positions differently. Contact your local PrideStaff office today to learn more about how our On Target fulfillment process and Workforce Growth Solutions can reduce your turnover and strengthen your business from the inside out.