Reduce Your Employee Turnover Rate to Prosper

Are you somebody who is in charge of running the operations at the corporation you work at? Does your organization consist mostly of loyal employees who stick around for at least a few years or do you mainly have employees who take off for greener pastures within a few months? You might say, “Most of my employees leave quickly but it is not a major deal because there are plenty of warm bodies out there to replace them. No skin off my back.”

I have some sobering news. High employee turnover is a serious problem for employers because it costs far more money to advertise for help and then train a new employee than it does to keep an existing employee; furthermore, an employee who suddenly leaves will probably not recommend your business to other prospective job applicants. Do you like spending a lot of time conducting job interviews and holding training sessions? Additionally, the less happy your employees are, the less likely they are to give your customers excellent service, resulting in more lost revenue. You will learn numerous good ways to increase your employee retention rate and help your bottom line in the long run.

Pay your employees fairly. It would help your organization to at least pay your employees a wage that is competitive with businesses that provide similar work. Better yet, why not pay the people who help make your success possible by providing a wage that is at least a dollar or two more than the average rate for your industry?

Reward your good employees properly. Praise their accomplishments in person. Give them adequate raises for doing a good job and producing a work output that is increasing your bottom line. Merit pay is a significant incentive for employees to do well and stay put.

Provide the normal employee benefits such as paid vacation time, a pension or 401k plan, dental access and medical access. Go the extra mile by showing your employees how much you personally care about them and their families. Grant necessary family time. Honor an employee’s occasional request to take a day off or go home early to attend her daughter’s high school graduation ceremony.

Offer flexibility. Give your workers the option to work flexible hours, at least occasionally. Be open to letting a valuable employee take an unpaid sabbatical.

Stand out by paying your female employees the same rate you pay your male employees. A female employee who is paid what her male co-workers are paid for doing the same quality work will probably think twice about quitting your firm too soon.

Focus on employee involvement. Management should let employees in on the fun they have. At one job I worked at, the supervisors would not let us participate in the holiday events in which management had a gift exchange and they rarely asked us if we wanted anything when they ordered food to be delivered. A fellow worker believed we were thought of as peons.

Keep your promises. If you promise an employee a raise for a higher performance, keep your word when he improves.

Provide adequate break time. Employees should at least receive a lunch break that lasts a half hour.

Provide good quarterly or annual bonuses. Give high-producing employees a bonus of a few hundred dollars.

Pay at least half the tuition cost for employees who attend college. This is a brilliant way to hold on to them for a few years.

The best way to keep an employee is to give her respect and never yell at her or put her down. This is essential and it lowers the risk for violence. Hold your managers accountable for employee retention by assigning them a unit of workers to supervise and keep track of the number of workers under their watch who quit.

Heed all of this advice to greatly lower your turnover rate and protect your bottom line!