Preventing Turnover In the Workplace

Though employers may make assumptions as to why employees leave the company, many organizations do not truly investigate or understand why some of their best employees choose to work for other companies. In fact, most workers leave their jobs because of miscommunications about expectations, broken promises, or excessive workloads.

To prevent turnover, you must first determine your current turnover rate. This will help you realize how many employees you are losing and by what means. To do so, divide the number of employees that were terminated or left the company voluntarily during one month by the number of employees who were working at your organization at the beginning of that month.

Beyond this calculation, you should also examine how many employees are leaving your organization voluntarily. For that statistic, divide the number of employees who left your organization within one month for voluntary reasons by the number of employees who were working at your organization at the start of that same month. If your turnover rate is significantly higher than your voluntary rate, you are in good shape because your employees are not choosing to leave you; you are choosing to let them go.

Retaining Your Valued Employees

To retain employees that are hard workers and valuable assets to your company, consider these recommendations:

• Tell your valued employees how important they are to your organization, and do it often.
• Curtail apprehensions about job security and explain how employees can have a future with your organization.
• Be honest with individuals who are not meeting your expectations.
• Promote a diverse workforce. In addition to race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation diversity, hire individuals of various ages, marital and parental statuses, educational backgrounds, personality types and communication styles. Then, encourage your employees to get to know one another to learn more about their co- workers.
• Create an environment in which employees are accountable for their work and job performance.
• Set goals for all tiers of the organization. Your senior-level employees should be working toward the organization’s goals just like your entry-level employees.
• Make your employees accountable for acting in a fashion that supports the organization’s values.
• Encourage employees to drive their own success within your organization. If employees have some control in how they advance, they will be more motivated.
• Management should provide feedback on a regular basis to continually motivate and encourage those below them. Also suggest that management focus more on one-on-one interactions with their subordinates as opposed to the formality of performance review forms and scheduled reviews.
• Offer a comprehensive benefits package. Also, promote and remind employees regularly of their benefits using Total Compensation Statements.
• Do not reward those who do not deserve it. Rewards should be given as objectively as possible and for performance- based reasons.
• Promote physical, emotional and mental health by offering health screenings and fairs, gym memberships and other employersponsored perks.

When a Valued Employee Leaves

To understand why employees leave, consider following up with exit interviews about six months after their departure. Within this period of time, employees often gather some perspective as to why they really left and may be more willing to provide that information. Employees may also be settled into a new company and no longer worried about getting a good reference from your organization, making them potentially more honest about the reason they left.

During the Hiring Process

When hiring new employees, create a realistic expectation of the jobs they are applying for. If a job will be extremely demanding or stressful, be honest about that fact. If these attributes do not match the applicant’s personality and values, you may risk losing a solid employee because their expectations and yours were different.

When recruiting, have specific attributes in mind for an ideal candidate and look for applicants who match those qualifications. Do your best to evaluate if an applicant will be a good fit for your company, from both your and the individual’s perspective.

Effective recruiting can help prevent turnover before there is an opportunity for someone to leave.

Summary

High employee turnover can be costly and damaging to a company’s success. To combat this, it’s vital to address the reasons employees leave and focus on creating a positive work environment with clear career paths. This boosts employee satisfaction and keeps them invested in the company’s future.

IMA will continue to monitor regulator guidance and offer meaningful, practical, timely information. This material should not be considered as a substitute for legal, tax and/or actuarial advice. Contact the appropriate professional counsel for such matters. These materials are not exhaustive and are subject to possible changes in applicable laws, rules, and regulations and their interpretations.