Employee Turnover Got You Down?

Longevity is the key to success.

Keeping your good employees is just as important and finding them.  When it comes to customer service your senior staff members – the ones who have been there the longest – are most likely the ones delivering the best, highest quality of service.  They are your biggest proponents, your brand ambassadors. They are the gatekeepers and the trainers. Often times a spike or increase in new employee turnover can be the direct result of troubles higher up in the food chain.  

When new employees see happy, appreciated, dedicated seniors it sets the tone for their engagement with your organization.  It gives them hope for their own future and models goals. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. It is crucial to identify areas where you are missing opportunities to empower your senior staff as well as nurture your newcomers.

If you are struggling with high turnover rates you could be overlooking one of the most easily executed strategies: Employee recognition.

Employee Recognition

According to Gallup Poll research, just one in three workers in the country strongly agree that they were given recognition or praise for doing good work in the past week. At any specified company, it’s not unusual for employees to feel that their efforts are normally ignored. Further, employees who do not feel sufficiently recognized are twice as likely to find another job in the following year.

According to a Gallup Workplace Study, when asked what types of recognition were the most memorable, those questioned emphasized six methods in particular — and believe it or not – money isn’t the only (or the top) form of recognition:

• Public recognition or acknowledgment via an award, certificate or commendation;
• Private recognition from a boss, peer or customer;
• Receiving or obtaining a high level of achievement through evaluations or reviews;
• Promotion or increase in scope of work or responsibility to show trust;
• Monetary award such as a trip, prize or pay increase;
• Personal satisfaction or pride in work.

Recognized employees feel appreciated and are more productive, expending more effort as a result of their increased commitment to their jobs and their companies. In fact, productivity in companies with recognition tends to be about 14% higher than in companies where it does not. A Joint study between Globoforce and the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) confirms this, referring to a 32% increase in productivity for companies that practice strategic recognition.

My Manager Sucks

Creating a culture of inclusion by treating your staff’s ideas and contributions as vital and integral can also have a huge impact on retention.  Sometimes our own management styles need to evaluated in the HR equation to make sure it is not a detriment to the bottom line.

• Minimize micromanagement and provide more independence by listening to employees’ goals and needs and being open minded to suggestions.
• Improving diversity increases innovation and increases the ability to attract and retain quality employees.
• Provide employees with the opportunity to continue learning and to master their craft – training is vital.
• Improve retention and keep your employees happy with their jobs by clearly defining and purpose and continuously reinforce that purpose.
• Improve the lives of your employees – if you make someone’s life better, why would they ever consider working elsewhere?

A workplace that is attractive to prospective new employees and amiable to your current staff will reap the benefit of increased employee engagement, boosted profitability, improved customer metrics, enhanced productivity and positive talent retention.