As per a LinkedIn survey, around 11% of employees quit their jobs every year.
While that ratio is quite high on its own, it does not even take into account the number of employees who wanted to quit their jobs during the pandemic but did not act on this desire due to the condition of the economy and job market. It also does not take into account all the employees who are unhappy with the (lack of) flexibility being provided by their employers. You factor all of this into account, and the percentage is likely to go up to alarming levels.
Unsurprisingly, then, reducing employee turnover (also referred to as 'workplace churn' ) is one of the most complex and urgent challenges facing HR departments around the world. In this blog, we will cover several ways that will help you lower the number of employees hitting the exit button.
Steps to Conquer the Workplace Churn:
Establish the Right Hiring Process:
One of the best ways to make sure that your employees do not leave you is to make sure that you make smart hiring decisions in the first place. Make sure that the job role, description, and responsibilities are clear – both to yourself and to the applicants. This will increase the probability of selecting the right candidate.
So, who is the right candidate? Someone who not only possesses the skill and experience that you are looking for but is also aligned with your company's culture and values. In order to check for this, you can integrate behavioral questions into the interview that help you learn more about the candidate's character and personality. For instance, you could ask the applicant about a time they underwent a sudden change in their routine – how they reacted and adjusted to it, and the things that they learned from this occurrence. The answer could provide valuable insights into the candidate's personality.
Offer Market Competitive Compensation:
On the surface, this one seems like a no-brainer. However, you will be surprised to know how few companies align their salaries and benefits with the market rates or offer raises that are in line with the employees' development and current worth.
Hence, make sure that you are paying your employees what they are worth – or else, when they jump ship, you will have no one but yourself to blame.
Recognize Your Employees:
Be quick to acknowledge your employees' performance, and (and this is connected to the above point), make sure that you are linking pay to performance. Your key players are likely to stay motivated when their standout efforts are recognized and adequately compensated.
Other than that, celebrate your employees' success publicly and loudly. Throw a small party to acknowledge an employee reaching a key milestone, and turn that acknowledgment into a little ceremony. Also, take the time to learn about your employees' passions, hobbies, and interests, and remember to make their rewards as personalized as possible.
Encourage Gratitude and Generosity:
Promote prosocial behavior throughout the organization. When employees are able to connect through acts of generosity and appreciation, the overall environment is going to be happier, healthier, and more cohesive, and one that workers are less likely to want to leave.
Also, give employees a sense of ownership by encouraging them to commend any good behavior that they experience or observe.
Offer Flexibility:
Work-life balance is at the top of many contemporary employees' lists of priorities. According to a survey, 57% of employees consider perquisites and benefits before accepting or rejecting a job offer. This means that the degree of work-life balance offered by your organization has a direct impact on your employee retention rate. In fact, a study conducted by the Boston College Center for Work and Family revealed that 80% of employees and 76% of managers believe that work-life balance has a positive impact on retention.
This means that simply offering good financial compensation is not enough – you need to provide your employees with the kind of flexibility that will allow them to make time for friends, family, and passions. Alongside flexibility and work-life balance, you should focus on offering unique perquisites like unlimited paternity or maternity leave until their child's first birthday, or a travel stipend that employees can use at any time of the year.
Provide Opportunities for Growth:
Part of making employees feel valued is helping them chalk out a clear career path for themselves. One of the main reasons that employees start searching for other career opportunities is that they are made to feel stagnant in their current organization. Encourage managers to conduct regular review and appraisal meetings to discuss current performance, overall progress, and future goals and targets.
Also, provide in-company opportunities for career progression and cross-training. Make sure that you hold regular educational and training opportunities, provide additional responsibility, and make the employees take on more challenging and enriching assignments.
If an employee is excited by their career path and the opportunities for career movement, this excitement will serve as a major deterrent to turnover.
Prioritize Employee Wellbeing:
This might seem like fluff and obsolete to many HR executives, but its impact on employee retention is anything but that. Worker morale is a crucial determinant of employee productivity, motivation, absenteeism, and of course, retention.
One way of prioritizing employee health and well-being is using ergonomic office furniture like the Soutien Ergonomic Office Chair. Creating an ergonomic office is associated with a number of benefits including improved posture, reduction and prevention of back and neck pain, reduction in muscle stiffness, and improvement in blood flow – and all of this adds up to increased productivity and efficiency. Naturally, then, ergonomics is a key aspect of employee well-being.
There are a number of other ways of improving employee well-being:
Giving workers more autonomy regarding their work
Identifying and removing workplace stressors
Spreading awareness about mental health
Encouraging physical fitness and health
Creating an EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
Conducting yoga, meditation, and mindfulness sessions
Improve Your Performance Review Process:
According to the WorkHuman Mood Tracker survey, organizations need to make major changes and alterations to their performance review processes. The survey revealed that only 49% of employees considered their performance reviews as accurate, while 47% saw them as motivating. Performance reviews provide the perfect platform for managers and employees to develop mutual trust – and by having an ineffective appraisal system, you are letting this major opportunity go to waste.
Here are a few ways to improve your performance review process:
Start with a robust performance plan
Be honest
Use a consistent evaluation cycle
Conduct regular, feedback-based coaching sessions
Establish clear expectations for managers and supervisors
Conduct interim reviews
Conduct supervisor training
Track employee performance throughout the year
End on a positive note
Create an Inclusive Vision:
A key factor in worker engagement and happiness is assuring them that the work they do is meaningful and positively impacts the entire organization. Make sure that your employees have strong goals and visions about their work, and possess a sense of loyalty and belonging towards your organization.
Communicate the responsibilities that you expect the employee to undertake, the roles you expect them to perform, and the goals and targets you expect them to achieve. This will help the clients be clear about the expectations set for them, and make them feel like part of the organization's in crowd.
Make Employees Feel Heard:
Make employees a part of any decision that is likely to affect their job, life, or the overall direction of your organization – whenever possible. This includes decisions about the company's goals, values, mission, or vision. Employees are likely to accept a strategic framework that they were a part of developing.
Below are a few ways to make your employees a part of the decision-making process:
Form a committee (this is helpful for larger organizations where it might not be possible for the leadership to receive opinions from every single employee)
Put up suggestion boxes (while it may not be viable to implement every suggestion, you will gain valuable insights about how employees feel about certain ideas or changes)
Offer options (especially when it comes to crucial decisions)
Let them pick their trainings (if there is something that the employee wants to learn and you think will benefit the company as well, support them)
Create employee surveys (like suggestion boxes, employee surveys will help you learn about your employees' ideas, opinions, and overall level of satisfaction)
Final Word:
To sum up, regardless of the size or type of your business, workplace churn is something that you always want to avoid. By refining your hiring process, improving working conditions, and making employees feel belonged and are in-control, you can not only retain a higher proportion of your current employees but also attract some of the top talents from every department.
To learn more about facilitating your employees, please feel free to check out some of the other blogs on our website.
