High turnover affects many businesses and will affect all companies periodically. Sometimes it can seem that no sooner do you train a new employee than they submit their resignation notice.
It is a challenge for smaller companies that cannot offer the same benefits and perks as a Fortune 500 firm. Thankfully, there are many things you can do to reduce turnover regardless of the size of your business.
The traditional annual performance review has limitations. It is infrequent, meaning problems can fester without quick resolution. It can also tend towards the adversarial and is seldom helpful.
Instead, managers and supervisors should conduct regular one-on-one meetings with staff to ensure staff receives feedback in an ongoing and positive manner. It should also go in two directions, with employees able to give feedback and let their supervisors know what they need to thrive.
Feedback should help employees grow into their roles and, ideally, into potential future roles they might have with the company.
First impressions are vital. Remember that when you are interviewing a candidate, they are also interviewing you. You need to ensure that they see your company at its best and most organized.
Make sure that you hire efficiently. Nothing increases turnover faster than hiring the wrong people, as they will either leave quickly or have poor performance. An efficient process helps you find the best candidates, including implementing a set hiring procedure to find out what you need.
Develop a streamlined onboarding process. Ideally, most technical aspects of onboarding should occur before your employee's first day, so they are not waiting around on HR or IT before they can start work. Remote onboarding is also essential for remote staff. Training should aim to get them up to speed quickly and begin working with their goals so they will be inclined to stay.
Good onboarding and training also demonstrate your company's stability. Even if you don't feel put together, putting forth that impression reassures your staff as you continue growing into it.
Smaller companies have less access to quality benefits than larger organizations that provide them at scale. Many small businesses struggle to provide the bare minimum of benefits required by law, with no ability to offer voluntary benefits such as a 401(k). Low-quality benefits will push away good candidates but can also force existing employees to leave when and if they find the benefits cannot support them and their families.
To compete with larger companies, you need to find a way to offer the same level of benefits they can provide their staff. The best way to do this is to partner with a professional employer organization (PEO), which can use the mechanism of co-employment to add your employees to their plans. You benefit from economies of scale to receive more optimal rates.
You can also consider other, less tangible benefits. These include flexible working schedules, which can help valuable, diverse candidates, remote work when possible, or wellness programs. Offering an excellent work-life balance can often win good candidates away from large corporations that may judge employees by hours worked and keep them, especially as their lives become more complicated.
Everyone wants to feel appreciated, and recognizing and rewarding your top performers should be an ongoing process. Peer recognition is an integral part of this, so make sure to include methods by which employees can recognize each other rather than it always coming from the top.
Rewards do not have to be expensive (or even monetary, although small gift cards and the like are always appreciated), but you should always give them out honestly.
Ensure your top performers know there will be ongoing recognition if they remain with the company.
Ongoing professional development is a crucial component for maintaining employee retention. Training should take into account the employee's goals.
Many younger employees have developed a cultural expectation that to progress in their careers, they need to change jobs every few years. That needs to be dealt with if you want to be able to keep them in the long term. By promoting from within, you save money on hiring and demonstrate to your employees that there are real opportunities if they stay with you. Investing in your employees is also good by providing opportunities to train them in soft and transferrable skills.
You can achieve this with the help of a PEO. They can help you afford better benefits and handle the mundane parts of onboarding. They can help you do it properly by advising on training and recognition programs. In taking on mundane tasks, your PEO frees up your internal HR team to focus on employee wellness or training. Partnering with a PEO is the very best way to overcome high turnover and grow your business.