When a company does not succeed in engaging, developing and nurturing its employees, employee turnover is likely to occur.
The reasons for turnover can vary but the cost will remain the same. It costs organizations between $4,000-$60,000 to replace an employee. This amount varies depending on the annual salary of the role and includes costs such as direct hiring, the hiring managers and HR’s time, productivity loss, overtime, training of the new employee, etc. While some turnover cannot be prevented, some can, and those cases will require your extra attention as a deep-seated issue within your organization could be the cause.
Keep reading below to find out what can provoke employee turnover and how to prevent it.
Your Company Does Not Provide Opportunities for Growth
Creating a work environment where your employees can grow and develop their skills is essential to retaining them in your company. Too often employees start to look or leave, due to lack of; communication, feedback or succession planning and/or the perception that growth is not possible.
If you want to avoid losing your employees to your competitors, you must provide opportunities to help them learn, practice their new skills and show them that growth is possible. This can be done through the performance review process or during succession planning, and leaders can consider offering; cross-training, internal or external training programs, a mentorship program or providing employees additional responsibilities in or out of their current scope.
Your Employees Tend to Feel Overworked
Nobody likes to work beyond their regular work hours but sometimes it is required to complete a task or meet a deadline. This most often occurs when there is high turnover and the responsibilities of the exiting employee are put on the current team.
As a result, employees are given more tasks that they can’t accomplish without sacrificing a few things, namely their personal lives. If organizations and leaders want to avoid having frustrated employees, lessen their burden, hire temporary staff, or offer a bonus for extra work they take on willingly.
You Lack the Initiative to Provide Positive Feedback
Employees want feedback. They want to know if they are meeting the requirements of their role and if there are any areas for improvement. If feedback to your employees focuses on their areas of opportunities and does not highlight their strengths, they will constantly feel like they are not measuring up and being to disengage. Offering genuine feedback encourages your staff to succeed, not only for the company but also for their career goals.
You can inspire an employee who might be having a hard time with a few honest words to help them realign their goals and, eventually, balance their workload. On the other hand, if you skip the process of providing feedback, you can expect your employees to feel lost, incapable and they may eventually resign from their position.
You Do Not Empower Your Employees
Leaders and Owners who micromanage their employees or implement red tape, controlling their employees’ every move, is a disaster waiting to happen. It proves that you do not trust your workforce enough to do the job they were hired to do and limits organizational growth.
Once you have provided training and ensured the employee has the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA’s) to complete their tasks, employees should be trusted to make decisions and ask questions if needed. If you are always looking over people’s shoulders, insinuating a lack of trust, you are preventing room for growth and stunting the company’s success. These actions are sure to result in employee turnover sooner rather than later.
Conclusion
You can learn to keep your employees engaged, happy and have them around for the years to come so long as you focus on managing your business and creating a safe working environment for everyone. You can reduce employee turnover by providing growth opportunities, managing workloads, increasing compensation, offering positive feedback, and providing employees the freedom to make independent decisions. If you are still lost on how to reduce your turnover rates, then it’s best to approach a consulting service to help you out.
Involvi is an HR consulting firm aiming to assist small to medium businesses with solutions related to your human capital. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help you!
