10 Simple Tips To Reduce Employee Turnover At Work

It goes without saying that employees are critical to the organization's growth, development, and prosperity. And employees' productivity is directly related to the ROI of their organization. But, it's exhausting to see your most talented employees leave, isn't it? You're not alone, after all. Many businesses struggle with employee turnover, which costs them more than they may realize. The tales of workplace disruptions like Great Resignation, Great Attrition and Quiet Quitting have become irrelevant in 2023, but employee turnover rates remain in the headlines. As reported by CNBC, the employee turnover trend is still a problem because more than 50 million employees left their jobs in 2022, surpassing the record of 2021. Many HR leaders are considering how to retain their top talent and prosper through 2023 and beyond in light of this widespread exodus.

In order to ensure the steady growth of an organization, it is important to retain valuable talent within the company. When your employees spend more time working for your organization, they tend to grow with it and add value. You can establish healthy relationships with your employees when retaining talent, increasing their engagement and productivity. That is why it is so important for organizations to reduce employee turnover.  However, there is hope in sight, and it comes in the form of a few straightforward yet incredibly powerful tips.

What is Employee Turnover?

In simple words, employee turnover is the rate of employees leaving your organization over a specific period (generally one year). It allows you to quantify the employees leaving your company or a specific department over a set period. 

Employee turnover considers aspects like employee departure, layoffs, retirements, terminations, location transfers, resignations, and even deaths. Organizations calculate the employee turnover rate to ascertain its impact on the existing employees' overall productivity, customer service, and engagement. 

How To Calculate Employee Turnover?

The process of calculating employee turnover is pretty simple. You need to divide the total number of employees leaving your organization over a specific time (month, quarter, or year) by the average number of employees working within the chosen period of time. Multiplying the answer by 100 would provide you with the rate of employee turnover.

For example, if your organization has 150 employees working over the course of a month and 50 employees leave during the same time, you can calculate the employee turnover rate as follows:

(50/150) x 100 = 33.33 

Here, your rate of employee turnover would be 33.33%. 

Before you calculate employee turnover, it is essential to note that you are not required to consider temporary hires or employees going on temporary leave in the calculation. Adding these figures to the equation would provide you with an answer you cannot rely on to obtain valuable insights.

Understanding Voluntary And Involuntary Employee Turnover

There are two major types of employee turnover – voluntary and involuntary. 

As the name suggests, voluntary turnover is the turnover where an employee willingly leaves the organization. This can result from finding a better job opportunity, workplace conflicts, disengagement, and other reasons that make an employee leave an organization. 

On the other hand, involuntary turnover is the case of employee turnover where an employee has to leave an organization against their will. Here, an employee may be laid off by the company or asked to leave because of a lack of productivity, toxic behavior, and other relevant reasons. 

What are the Major Causes of Employee Turnover? 

Some of the major causes of employee turnover include: 

• Internal promotion
• Transfer
• Employees feeling burnt out
• Career progression
• Lack of opportunity
• Toxic work culture
• Having negative feelings towards the management
• Lack of productivity
• Lack of work-life balance
• Involuntary departure
• Better job offers from another organization
• Unforeseen life or family event

10 Simple Tips To Reduce Turnover 

Let's start with a crucial question before we discuss the solutions: Why should you be concerned about lowering employee turnover in the first place?

Now think about this: Every time an employee leaves your company, they take a piece of its culture and institutional memory with them in addition to their knowledge and skills. Workflow disruptions decrease morale among the remaining staff members, and reputation damage can all result from high employee turnover. Not only this, it can be extremely expensive to hire and train replacements.

If you are willing to retain the valuable talent within your organization and prevent them from leaving, here are some of the simplest yet most important tips to keep in mind for reducing turnover at work: 

Provide Instant Support to the Common L1 Tasks

Employees working from home or the office might encounter challenges like document access errors, difficulty resetting laptops, hardware troubleshooting, or failure to install new software. To get the first level of support, they must contact the frontline support team, such as the helpdesk or technical support agents. These tasks are usually simple, repetitive, well-defined, and can be resolved quickly and efficiently. 

Though these L1 tasks sound simple, ensuring that employees receive timely and effective assistance with their technical or other issues is essential. Long waits for support will frustrate your employees and make them consider leaving. Thus, organizations must deploy AI service desks or AI chatbots that can provide the right support at the right time, reduce response times, increase work efficiency and elevate the employee experience. 

Allocate Roles Based On Skills

Most employees feel like switching companies because their work is not in sync with their skills and capabilities. Even if an employee joins an organization for reasons other than getting job satisfaction, they are bound to feel disengaged over time if they cannot utilize their skills doing the work assigned to them.

It is, therefore, always advisable to assign tasks and roles to employees based on the skills they possess. Doing so will help you retain more employees and increase the overall productivity of your organization, as the employees would be able to give their best in what they do.

Be An Active Listener

One of the simplest tips to reduce employee turnover is to be an active listener. Although it seems trivial, actively listening to your employees and responding effectively makes them feel valued. It is always advisable for managers and team leaders to be there for their subordinates and entertain their requests whenever needed.

Whether your employees are willing to share new ideas or discuss their issues, make sure that you listen to them, understand where they are coming from, and respond effectively to have confidence in their team.

Be Clear In Your Job Expectations

It is always advisable for an organization to be clear and upfront with employees (especially new hires) about the expectations you have for them. Many issues arise out of employees not being clear about their roles and responsibilities. Always be transparent in communicating the job details when an employee is hired, and never sugarcoat any aspect of the tasks they are required to perform.

When your employees know exactly what is expected of them and are clear about their role in the organization, they are likely to be associated with you for a more extended time.

Conduct Exit Interviews

Like recruitment interviews, an organization needs to conduct exit interviews when an employee decides to quit. Irrespective of the reason behind them leaving, exit interviews help managers to understand the major reasons that may lead to other employees leaving the company. These interviews provide you with the employees' points of view regarding the effectiveness of the management.

If you assess exit interviews keeping an open mind, you can make necessary changes in the management, ensuring that you retain the talent your company already possesses.

Look For Employees Fitting Your Company Culture

Along with the skills and capabilities of the candidates, recruitment managers should consider the extent to which a candidate fits the company's culture. If you hire employees who sync with your company culture, it becomes easier for them to adapt to the new work environment and grow with the company. This would also make it easier for managers and team leaders to work with the employees and extract the best outcome from their efforts.

Undertake Effective Two-way Communication

Never make the mistake of dictating the tasks to be performed by employees and giving them instructions without dialogue with them. To reduce employee turnover, it is always important to undertake effective two-way communication with them. Make sure you ask them about their experience so far, the issues they are facing, their suggestions to improve the management, and their input in making important decisions. This would provide your employees with a feeling of inclusiveness, making them stick around for long.

Have A Flexible Schedule

Gone are the days when employees were comfortable working fixed hours from a dedicated workspace. Over time, employees in all major industries prefer working flexible hours to perform their tasks better. As long as the work is not getting hampered, it is advisable to have a flexible work schedule to provide them with a conducive work environment.

Develop Friendly Relations With Your Employees

Your employees probably spend a large chunk of their day with you. If you want them to stay associated with your company for more extended periods, developing friendly relations is important. This makes them feel comfortable while they work, increasing the free flow of ideas.

Reward Their Achievements

Finally, it is important to reward your employees for their achievements. Employees always tend to seek validation from the management after working hard on the projects assigned to them. When you appreciate their contribution to your organization, it makes them feel valued, leading to high engagement and productivity.

Conclusion

The goal of reducing employee turnover isn't just to save money; it's about creating a vibrant, happy workplace where employees are eager to come to work. The above-mentioned were some of the most simple and important tips to remember for reducing workplace turnover. Focusing on retaining your valuable employees can build a healthy community and provide new employees with a fulfilling work environment.

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FAQs

What is the employee turnover formula?

The percentage of employees who leave a company within a given time period is easily calculated using the employee turnover formula.
Here is the equation:

Employee Turnover Rate (%) = (Number of Employees Who Left / Average Number of Employees) x 100

What does high employee turnover mean?

When employee turnover is high, HR and leadership should pay attention. It might be an indicator of deeper issues that the company needs to address, such as low job satisfaction, management issues, or better working conditions. For an organization's long-term success and stability, lowering turnover and keeping talent is essential.

How can businesses lower employee turnover?

Here are some strategies that can be included in reducing employee turnover:

• Enhance employee engagement
• Provide personalized and instant employee support
• Offering opportunities for career development,
• Competitive pay and benefits
• Improve workplace culture.

‍What expenses are incurred as a result of high turnover rates?

The costs of high employee turnover might include hiring, training, and onboarding, as well as potential harm to company morale and culture.

‍What is an adequate turnover rate for a company?

Depending on the industry and organization, an adequate turnover rate typically falls within a manageable range and doesn't significantly disrupt business operations. It's best to evaluate your rate in relation to industry standards.