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5 solutions for employee turnover

In a recent webinar, one of G&A's Client Advocates, Lucy Garcia, sat down to discuss why great employees leave and what employers can do to improve their employee retention.

Garcia covered the impact of employer turnover and mentioned five reasons why great employees leave:

  1. Poor leadership
  2. Lack of job security or career growth
  3. Competitive salary offers
  4. It just wasn't a good fit
  5. Employees are overworked and do not feel valued

To take this lesson a step further, we asked our HR Specialists to elaborate on those five reasons as well as provide solutions.

Reason: Poor Leadership

Solution: Invest in Training Top Management

“A bad leader can take a good staff and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose motivation.”

Poorly trained or ineffective managers can have a significant impact on employee morale and retention. To compete in their industries, companies need to have efficient workforces that are as productive as possible. Companies that do not offer feedback tools, or performance reviews that allow subordinates to rate their managers, are at risk of high turnover.

Invest in training your managers on the basics of sound management - clear objective setting, structured performance evaluation systems, honest and open feedback and communication, coaching and so on. If you want to be the kind of manager people don’t leave, self-awareness should be a top priority.

Reason: Lack of Job Security or Career Growth

Solution: Create opportunities for advancement

Having the opportunity for advancement is important to employees, and it can have a significant impact on employee retention and morale. A good way to help employees feel they are advancing in their career is to offer training opportunities to them. You can do this by offering to pay for certification courses, encouraging cross departmental training, or by sending your top employee’s to conferences.

Managers should consistently meet with their employees to set goals and discuss expectations. To do this, communicate your appreciation to your employees, even if you are unable to offer a promotion at that time.

Reason: Your salary is not competitive

Solution: Offer competitive benefits and compensation

Is it possible that your employees may not understand their total compensation and only look at the NET pay?

When an employee feels stagnant, that can lead to restlessness, which leads employees to look for something else. It's important to find out the details of your peers' plans and compare them with yours.

A total rewards statement allows employees to see exactly how much they’re valued by your organization. From a monetary perspective, lay out how much they’re worth to you. You need to go beyond a basic salary survey and compensation info to do this.

Reason: It just wasn't a good fit

Solution: Find the right people for the right roles

A person’s job fit is the aptness to perform the tasks required to excel in a specific job. When hiring new employees, it’s important to consider how a potential employee fits in with the company. You also want to make sure their skillsets are not misaligned with the job description, which is the most important tool when trying to find the right people. Remember doing a good job of conducting interviews takes more time than having an informal conversation.

Reason: Employees are overworked and do not feel valued

Solution: Review the employee experience program

Investing in great experiences for your employees is extremely important for productivity and overall happiness in the workplace. Five ways you can improve the employee is experience is by:

  1. Make sure both you and your employee have a clear understanding regarding the “nature” of the employees’ jobs. Ask yourself: “Do my employees know their role or purpose in the company?”
  2. Evaluate the resources and tools provided to employees.
  3. Dedicate resources to training.
  4. Allow your employees to have a way to voice their opinions and provide feedback by using a suggestion box.
  5. Make a great first impression. What are you hoping to portray to your new employees, and do you think you are succeeding in that?

Given our current situation, companies are doing whatever they can to avoid layoffs and furloughs. It is important to check in with your employees to see how they are handling this odd transition. While you may not be able to send employees to conferences or host trainings, you can use this time to strategize how you can help your employee's grow. Now is the time for your leadership team to show their true colors. Remember: leaderships is not a title, it's a choice.

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Last Updated

04.07.2020