Employees aren’t leaving companies as quickly as they were two years ago. But you may still need to reduce turnover in your organization. To do that, you should focus on employee engagement.

Awesome Employee Engagement Hacks To Quickly Reduce Turnover

The average turnover rate in the U.S. this year is 3.5%. A key contributing factor to turnover is burnout. In 2024, about 37% of workers are experiencing burnout.

The rate is not as high as it was during the pandemic, but it’s still an issue.

In fact, 21% of employees with high burnout are actively looking for a new job. Even employees who are not sending around their resumes might be less engaged than you need them to be.

The latest research from Quantum shows that nearly half of younger employees, those under age 35, feel burned out. Only 29% of team members aged 56 and up say the same.

What’s causing this burnout and what can you do to reduce turnover? Leaders should first understand that “burnout is more than stress,” says Quantum Workplace researchers.

Reducing the Workload

One way to improve employee feelings about being overwhelmed is to properly staff your organization. Up to 40% of employees believe resources are stretched too thin.

It may not be financially possible to increase headcount at this time. But you should consider other options. For example, applying AI to routine tasks may reduce the workload for some employees.

And it’s always a good idea to regularly review how your employees spend their time every day. Ask them to log their activities and then study the reports.

Are your team members producing data that was considered revolutionary 10 years ago? Is anyone using the information they are generating?

A detailed audit of ongoing tasks will likely turn up a few items that you can remove from your employees’ to-​do lists.

Invest in Health and Wellbeing Initiatives

You can also reduce turnover by investing in health and wellbeing programs. 62% of surveyed employees do not believe that their organization supports their health or wellbeing.

While corporate leaders worry about these kinds of statistics in their own workforce, they should act quickly. The first course of action is often conducting a survey to obtain employee feedback.

This strategy can be helpful but leaders should outline survey boundaries. Employees appreciate clarity about what to expect.

If team members are lobbying for more time off, leaders should state the limits of the action they will take. Leaders should also set other expectations. For example, strong leaders let employees know when they will hear the plan of action.

Employee Participation

When company leaders keep survey data to themselves, they may believe they are shielding employees. In old-​school organizations, leaders may also announce the changes they’re making as a result of employee feedback. This strategy is efficient.

But in today’s fluid organizations, employee engagement may fall as the result of one-​way communication. Your team members want to have a say in their future. The best way to satisfy those expectations is to share information and appoint employees to change committees.

How will you know whether a specific employee has any interest in these roles? Psychometric assessment results can reveal strengths you may have missed. With TeamTrait, you can quickly determine which employees possess the most creativity, for example.

Adding these employees to a team empowers them to come up with great ideas. They also gain more visibility and credibility in the company. And their increased engagement means reduced turnover.

Improving Communications Between Silos

Another organizational problem leading to burnout is the lack of communication. A new Invoca report focuses on alignment and communication between sales and marketing teams. One startling finding is that 36% “of marketing and sales leaders have limited or no control over revenue outcomes.”

Researchers point out that in many B2C companies, sales and marketing teams “are totally disconnected.” When employee pay is tied to sales outcomes, burnout increases if they don’t feel they have control. And if they don't feel heard, frustration grows.

This research points to a problem in many organizations. Whether it’s sales, marketing, IT or human resources, better communications across teams reduces stress. Setting up cross-​department teams and empowering individuals to improve communication will help.

The need to reduce turnover will continue to challenge corporate leaders. But taking clear action to improve employee engagement will reduce the number of team members who are thinking of quitting.

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