The results are in and it’s not good. A recent LinkedIn survey shows that most employees can only envision themselves at their current company for less than 2 years. This means that you will spend resources to hire, train and nurture a potential staff member, only to have them quit just as they are getting the hang of things.
So how do you retain staff for long periods of time? Many advisors will tell you that increased salary and benefits are the key. And while this may be true, the situation is more dire than it seems and bears a targeted offense. The Washington Post reports that employee turnover is at it’s highest since 2008.
Let’s take a look at 5 innovative ways you can keep your company productive, and your employees happy.
- Regular Check-ins: Many companies conduct exit interviews where they speak to the employee about what went wrong during their tenure there. But what is more important is instituting regular ‘stay’ interviews, perhaps quarterly. Speak to your staff on a one on one basis and encourage transparency between the ranks. Give yourself the chance to resolve any issues before they get out of hand.
- Relationship Advice: Keep an eye on how relations operate between employees and their respective managers. High staff turnover is often directly related to issues with upper management. Not all staff members are going to mesh well with their superiors. The employee might be amazing at their job, but their productivity becomes hampered by poor office relations. You can easily assign a different manager to evaluate the team member or institute training so management becomes more sensitive to varying degrees of thought.
- Anonymously Yours: Leave room for anonymous feedback. Employees often want their voices heard but fear repercussive impact. There are many applications and methods that can facilitate private feedback. Allowing this kind of communication can serve to reduce tension and air out grievances. A win-win on all sides.
- Delegate Often, Delegate Well: On of the major reasons employees leave their job is because they aren’t feeling satisfied with the level of work they are assigned. Almost everybody wants to feel trusted and challenged within their workplace. It’s important to assess what each employee has to offer and then give them the opportunity to use and improve their skills and abilities.
- Live to Work, Work to Live: A healthy work-life balance is a goal that we can all strive to accomplish. Adding on the option for remote work or instituting flexible working hours can go a long way towards office-wide health and well being.
While staff turnover isn’t always a bad thing, an efficiently run organization must aim to keep their turnover rate below 15%. To do this takes a dedicated commitment to your employees and an understanding that high staff turnover can affect morale, efficiency and the bottom-line. With careful execution of the above strategies, your workplace will have the ability to create a solid ground from which to operate.
