How to Keep Your Company’s Staff Turnover Rate Low

Use these tips to help build a culture in your organization that will keep your turnover rates low, and your best employees on board.

No matter the size of the business you run, you no doubt spend considerable time every year looking for ways that you can cut costs and increase sales.

While there are plenty of strategies you can implement to get cash flow in tip-top shape, one that many entrepreneurs don’t concentrate on enough is reducing their staff turnover rate.

Having a high turnover of employees within a business can be a hidden cost, even though it typically costs a company thousands of dollars each time a member of the team quits.

Apart from the immediate financial impact felt in having to pay for, find, and train an adequate replacement, there’s also the risk of having lots of knowledge walking out the door, plus the potential hit to overall staff morale and productivity.

The time involved in looking for and training up new employees needs to be factored into the equation as well.

Consider the fact that you can’t be sure new candidates will even work out in their roles when you hire them, and it’s easy to see that you don’t want to continually see your best staff members leave.

It’s a much better strategy to keep your employee turnover rate as low as possible, and to spend energy on keeping all of the team happy, motivated, and productive in their roles.

There are many ways that you can go about the task of keeping top employees happy, from acknowledging and rewarding their efforts, to fostering a positive corporate culture and having open lines of communication.

If you’re keen to ensure your staff retention rates stay as high as possible, read on for the rundown on strategies you can implement today.

Be Supportive and Have a Cohesive Corporate Culture

Firstly, people always prefer to work in an environment where they feel supported and trusted. Indeed, many workers leave their jobs because they don’t like the boss they have to work for, not because their actual job doesn’t suit or they’re not a fan of the company in general. As such, it’s important for managers within organizations to lead in a way that makes people feel like they’re part of a team, not just “underlings” to be bossed about.

Managers should foster an environment where employees are trusted to do their job; are given the opportunity to make suggestions or provide ideas for improvements, and are treated with respect at all times. Equitable treatment of all staff should be a must, and those in management positions should lead by example and promote and live by the company’s mission, values and priorities.

Similarly, having a cohesive, positive culture in the workplace also goes a long way toward retaining team members. Employees who want to come to work because they enjoy interacting with other staff and know that their days may include things like special lunches, inspiring presentations, or group outings, will always stay longer in a role than those who don’t.

Company owners and managers should try hard to create a happy working environment for all team members, whether they work on site or remotely. Negative things like gossip, pettiness, criticism, and unnecessarily long work hours should be avoided, while putting programs in place which help teams to become cohesive units should be encouraged.

Acknowledge Workers and Offer Rewards and Perks

A great way to create a positive corporate culture is to acknowledge workers for a job well done or top effort and to regularly reward team members and provide them with perks. Many studies show that being praised in the workplace for their efforts is vitally important to workers, and can certainly have a big impact on turnover rates.

Managers should acknowledge the contributions of employees by taking the time to praise people for their work. This can be done with verbal recognition individually or in front of co-workers, or through emails, thank you notes, awards, and the like. In addition, it also pays to reward workers with things like bonuses, vouchers, trips, gifts, free meals, and other perks. Basically, anything that shows people that their efforts have been noticed and appreciated will be worthwhile.

Communicate Effectively

Another way to reduce company turnover rates is to make sure that staff members are communicated with effectively. If team members are talked down to or ridiculed, feel that they need to second guess their position in the business, or worry that they’re being kept in the dark about something, they will often soon be looking for a new company to work for.

It’s important for managers to always communicate openly and honestly with employees, and to listen to their suggestions or concerns. Workers should be alerted to new directions a company may be taking, and changes to teams or other structures that may affect their roles. It also helps if they can get involved in the decision-making process with leaders where possible; this keeps them engaged and really feeling like they’re part of the team.

SOURCE: www.business.com