Staff turnover is sometimes inevitable. People find better opportunities, want a change, retire, or move away. This is considered staff attrition, the gradual loss of employees due to natural and unavoidable factors. However, you can minimize a mass exodus by paying attention to the most common factors in the workplace that lead to turnover.
“It’s incredibly vital that employers consider the causes of a high staff turnover that can potentially be prevented with the appropriate implementations,” says a spokesperson from Loopin. “Something as simple as a one-on-one every two weeks can improve the wellbeing, success, and overall enjoyment in the role for an employee, and it can reduce the speed at which the organization’s turnover is increasing.”
Here, the employee wellbeing experts at Loopin share six of the reasons that may be sending your staff members running.
Little opportunity for growth
By not providing opportunities for employees to progress, it can cause them to feel stuck in their roles and feel as though their hard work and commitment isn’t recognized. A company that can offer a role of higher authority will eventually become more appealing—not only for additional income but also to further demonstrate their skills.
Offering promotions for existing employees rather than hiring externally is one way to provide opportunities for growth. Communication is key to ensure that staff have clarity on how they need to perform for this to be possible. For example, provide a checklist of targets over a realistic time frame. This way, both you and employees can assess how close they are to the next step. Alternatively, providing relevant training courses for staff members allow them to educate themselves, stay up to date with the sector, and provides an excellent opportunity for growth.
Lack of feedback
Offering feedback to employees can go far in showing recognition, but it also is a huge factor that can help them succeed. Feedback allows your employee to see areas that need more work, thus allowing them the info they need to improve their performance.
Regular one-on-ones are a great opportunity to provide feedback, as it provides staff with the chance to address any areas with which they may be struggling. As an employer, you can ask questions to discover more about their goals, such as the direction they wish to head in their career. From this, the appropriate measures can be taken, whether that be shadowing another employee or offering training.
Micromanagement
While micromanagement may work in some instances, such as closely tracking new employees to nip any small mistakes in the bud, it has its disadvantages that can drive employees away. Not only does it limit creativity, but it also implies that you don’t trust staff members to make the right decisions on their own. Lack of innovation can lead to burnout, which not only damages the process within the company but it’s also likely that employees will find roles with more freedom elsewhere.
You can avoid micromanagement by choosing the right person for the job based on their strengths and goals. Delegating will not only make you feel more confident in leaving them to complete tasks without your overseeing eye, but it will be easier to draw away from telling them how to do the job correctly. Managing expectations instead of tasks is essential to zone out of the micromanagement phase and gives your staff more freedom.
Lack of flexible working
From working remotely to having alternative start and finish times, flexible working offers a practical solution for employers. It can help those who rely on public transportation, staff who experience lots of traffic on their commutes, and employees who need to take their children to school, to name a few. Having flexible working in place makes employees lives easier and offers a better work-life balance. Without it, employees may turn to a different company that does provide this benefit.
To incorporate flexible working into the organization, you can start by selecting the core working hours in which every employee must be present. Staff can then decide when they start and finish. On top of this, switching to a hybrid workplace where employees split their time between the workplace and working remotely can increase productivity and allows them to use their time more efficiently. It’s also an attractive perk to job seekers.
Overworking employees
Sometimes, it can be a necessity for employees to take on more responsibilities. For example, when someone leaves the company and their role has not yet been filled. With that being said, it’s vital that managers monitor the workload of all employees to ensure that it can be managed without affecting their stress levels, productivity, and personal life. Without doing so, staff may search for another role that will be better suited for their work-life balance and won’t contribute to stress or burnout.
This is another area where a one-on-one is particularly useful, as you can use the time to ask employees questions about how they are finding the workload and alter it based on their answers. Additionally, an employee wellbeing strategy is an implementation that can transform your workplace to be a healthy and happy environment by providing support to employees who are feeling stressed, perhaps due to the workload.
Hiring the wrong candidate
Hiring the wrong person for the job will not only affect the company but it can also impact the employee, too. It’s important to choose a candidate who is a great fit for the role, not just to fill the position quickly. If the perfect candidate is unable to start immediately, you should be patient instead of hiring a candidate who may not have as many of the desired qualities but can start straight away. You may soon find that the latter’s inability to meet all the needs impacts how happy she or he is in the position. In turn, unhappy employees will look elsewhere for a job or a company that they feel is a better fit. As a result, you’ll need to start the hiring process all over again.
To prevent hiring the wrong person, it’s crucial to not rush into any decisions. Choosing the first qualified candidate to fill the role could prevent you from finding someone who is much better suited, so it can help your organization to interview every candidate and assess their strengths. Your job description itself should be clear, including the responsibilities, the team’s needs, and even the desired soft skills. Without clarity, you face the risk of underqualified job seekers applying for the role and not finding someone who meets the requirements.
“High staff turnover not only affects the efficiency of the business, but it also impacts the remaining employees with added workload, and it can damage the reputation of the organization for future employees,” says the Loopin spokesperson. “Thinking of the future helps both the business and the staff, so it’s essential to analyze the reasons why past employees have left to prepare for the foreseeable and act accordingly.”
