BY C. Lee Smith
Is your attrition rate too high? You may think so if you have spent considerable time and money hiring candidates. It’s disheartening to see them leave after a year or two.
Here are a few common causes of employee departures and how to reduce them.
Managing Your Attrition Rate
Before you delve into resolving this problem, learn whether employees are churning at an abnormally high rate for your industry. Our research shows that sales managers are often dealing with employee turnover that exceeds 30%. And some companies in the technology industry are dealing with an 18% turnover rate.
Once you know your rate of attrition, you can determine the steps you’ll take to reduce it. And you’ll be able to measure your progress.
Determine the Cause of Employee Departures
As part of your effort to manage employee departures, you should conduct exit interviews. Some organizations may choose to have employees fill out a standard form. However, you may learn valuable details by asking HR to conduct the interview and ask personalized questions.
Common causes of employee departures range from dissatisfaction about pay to resentment about being asked to return to the office. As you review exit interview data, you may also learn that employees seem to avoid a specific co-worker or manager. These red flags should prompt you to take action before someone else departs.
Beware of managers who create a hostile work environment or behave in a toxic manner. They could be responsible for a high attrition rate. The sooner you get to the bottom of the problem, the better.
Psychometric Assessments Can Help Reduce Attrition
In some cases, you may lose a star employee because the position they hold is not a good match for their skills or interests. Employees are motivated by a variety of factors. If you are not appealing to those factors, you risk seeing another person leave your organization.
You can head off some departures by reviewing the psychometric assessments your employee has taken. As part of this review, consider whether employees in your department match the type of work they are doing. Consider whether they have the best fit with their current supervisor.
Assessment results can also reveal how to best coach specific employees. The best managers do not only help their team members succeed in their current position. Exceptional managers set them up to succeed for future jobs. When employees see their managers actively assisting them, they are less likely to add to your attrition rate.
Research shows that lack of future opportunities drives over 60% of departing employees to find another company to work for.
Great Culture Reduces Attrition
While job content matters to employees, other factors are also important. Younger employees, in particular, look to the workplace for engagement with co-workers. They also want to work for employers that share their specific values.
It’s not enough for employers to claim to support an initiative. Employees want to be called on to participate in initiatives that matter to them.
Yet companies often overlook this opportunity to increase engagement. Gartner research shows that nearly half of employees don’t believe their companies see them as individuals.
Rewards and Recognition Improve Loyalty
Hardworking team members deserve recognition. In fact, some employees expect it. Our survey of sales reps reveals that extra PTO (47%) or lunch with the CEO (26%) delights reps.
Often, a few small, but sincere, gestures impact an employee. Once you demonstrate that you care, they’ll be more likely to work hard for you and the company.
Your attrition rate poses a significant challenge for managers. When managers take the initiative to focus on employee wants and needs, they will increase engagement and loyalty. In the long term, they will also improve profitability.
Photo by Ono Kosuki on Pexels.