How To Curb High Turnover

Turnover is costlier than employers realize. A high turnover rate can cripple a service company or cleaning department.

What can be done to reverse this trend? Here’s a few tips:

• For starters, go through the exercise of calculating your company’s turnover rate. The Society for Human Resources (SHRM) indicates that a turnover rate is calculated by taking the number of separations during the period divided by the average number of employees, multiplied by 100. So, the equation would look like this: Turnover Rate = # of Separations / Avg. # of Employees x 100.
• Understand why turnover is happening in the first place. If you’re not taking the time to understand why people are leaving, which could be done via an exit interview, you’ll just continue to mindlessly push a revolving door and “hope” that you gain some stability at some point. Compile those results – its data that can be acted on to reverse the trend.
• Go the extra mile, implement sound hiring practices, know the persona of your ideal employee and set a certain bar for entry. Once you’ve found the right team members, make them feel like they belong, educate them and encourage them to make meaningful contributions.
• Re-invest in your people. Humans have a need for growth and a sense of connection. If you can’t increase the rate of pay, perhaps you can offer more training programs that could increase and employee’s skill set, thus, allowing them to be eligible for new opportunities and advancement within your organization. Or, introduce events that will boost morale, relationships and recognition.

Low turnover can be a sign that your employees have incentive to stay with the organization. Granted, there is such a thing as healthy turnover because it can lead to the recruitment of better talent. However, if your turnover rate is high, it becomes a major business liability.

Hiring good people is a hard thing to do. Luckily, there are great people everywhere. You just need to know where to find them, how to select them and then manage them properly so that they want to become part of your company’s future.

Greg Montesano is owner of The Prevailing Group in Stamford, Connecticut. The advisory firm works exclusively with service providers and contractors to uncover strategies that will save money and time, as well as boost the bottom line. He can be reached at greg@prevailinggroup.com. Learn more at www.prevailinggroup.com.