Employee turnover measures how frequently employees voluntarily or involuntarily leave a company on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. Common reasons for leaving include increased income and benefits, better work-life structure, and additional career progression opportunities.
Reducing employee turnover lowers hiring, onboarding, and training costs. Maintaining adequate staffing helps reach business goals and strengthen the bottom line.
Managers, human resources professionals, and company leaders can take steps to lower employee turnover. These methods can help.
Choose among these six tips to help reduce employee turnover.
1. Analyze Employee Turnover Rates
Use HR software to compare current employee turnover data to historical trends:
- Break down the turnover rates by quarter and year, voluntary vs. involuntary, business unit, department, and geography.
- Categorize the turnover rates by age, ethnicity, gender, and other relevant factors.
- Uncover root causes of termination, top performer turnover trends, and turnover demographics.
- Conduct a skills gap analysis.
- Identify flight risks.
- Gain insight to take steps to reduce employee turnover.
2. Prioritize Onboarding
The onboarding process introduces new hires to their roles and your company’s culture. As a result, the experience impacts employee longevity within your organization.
Methods to strengthen the onboarding process include:
- Send new hire paperwork to complete and return before the employee’s first day.
- Provide an employee handbook and onboarding itinerary so the new employee knows what to expect.
- Introduce each new hire to their teammates and coworkers they will regularly interact with.
- Pair each new employee with a teammate who can provide guidance and support as they adapt to the role and organization.
- Engage a new employee in a task as quickly as possible.
- Regularly follow up to answer a new hire’s questions and address concerns.
3. Support Work-Life Structure
Employees desire the ability to fulfill professional and personal responsibilities throughout the workweek. Therefore, providing resources for work-life structure helps reduce employee stress and the likelihood of burnout. These factors lower employee turnover rates.
The following methods support work-life structure:
- Offer remote or hybrid work options, a flexible schedule, and generous paid time off (PTO).
- Ensure employee workloads provide enough tasks to stay engaged and productive during business hours without becoming overwhelmed.
- Encourage employees not to work nights or weekends.
- Remind employees to use all of their annual PTO.
4. Involve Employees in Goal Setting
Employees who help develop their goals, understand how they link to the company’s strategic plans, and receive relevant resources and support are likely to attain them. These activities strengthen employee engagement, productivity, and performance. They also elevate job satisfaction, employee morale, and attraction and retention rates.
5. Offer Professional Development Opportunities
Learning and development opportunities encourage employees to remain long-term. Ongoing training and career development opportunities let employees add to their skill sets and earn promotions for professional fulfillment.
Examples of learning and development opportunities include:
- Seminars
- Conferences
- On-the-job training
- Stretch assignments
- Inter-departmental projects
- Cross-training
- Upskilling
- Reskilling
6. Recognize and Reward Employees
Regularly recognizing and rewarding your employees shows you value and respect their contributions and results. These activities encourage company loyalty.
For instance, point out a specific employee accomplishment, the steps taken, and the impact on your organization. Also, provide a bonus, pay increase, or promotion when appropriate.
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