Top 5 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover Rates

Ask any hiring manager what their biggest annoyance is and they will invariably tell you it’s increased employee turnover rates. Regular employee turnover rates require so much more work for hiring, processing, and getting your new employees back up to speed with where the departing employee was; it’s enough to make even the calmest heads spin. However, there are things that can be done at multiple stages to figure out how to reduce your employee turnover rates and keep your staff congealed. Whether your business is big or small, here are 5 ideas for reducing staff turnover:

Top 5 ways to reduce employee turnover rates.

Reference Checking: One of the first places hiring managers can do more of an investigative job is during the reference check process. Of course, when you are interviewing the candidate a good tool is to probe a little bit deeper into the questions of who these references even are and what the candidate thinks will be said about them. If you as the HR manager do a deeper job on the reference you may uncover a serial job hopper; at the very least you will be able to glean a little bit more about how the employee will fare by opening up the references and finding out more. This may help freeze employee turnover rates.

Multiple Interviews: Another way to reduce employee turnover rates is to see the potential employee more than once. Even if it’s not you doing the second or third interview, when a fresh set of eyes lies on these employees sometimes blatant things will pop out that just weren’t clear before. Multiple interviews also test the seriousness of the employee. If you’re just about to hire some fly-by-night individual who just enjoys getting hired and has no intention of staying with the job, a second or third interview may dissuade them.

Training: Once your employees have been hired it’s important for your staff and management to fully embrace them; getting them imbued with the culture of your business. Continued training will also help a great deal in giving the employee a continued sense of purpose and marriage to the position and reduce employee turnover rates.

According to the American Society for Training and Development, (ASTD)

"41% of employees at companies with inadequate training programs plan to leave within a year, versus 12% of employees at companies who provide excellent training and professional development programs."

Development: Another area where so many employers fall short is progressive development. If you have employees who have been stuck in a position while others have leapfrogged ahead of them, these employees are going to begin to resent not being considered for this elevated responsibility. How would you feel if you, as an underling, were teaching your “boss” how to do their job? Keeping your employees connected to the experience is vital. A job is a place where you go, get paid, and leave. A career is a place where you can advance through the ranks and receive accolades for the work that you have done. As an HR exec, you’re hoping to bring on career-minded people.

Evaluations: A final spot where you can reduce employee turnover rates is through rigorous and ongoing evaluations. If you are not evaluating your employees' performance they are going to slack off and begin to care less about the job. You want your employees to know that their work is being watched and evaluated and this is not just a one-time thing. Keeping your employees on their toes and making sure they’re being honest is pivotal to keeping employee turnover rates low. If your employees know that they could be disciplined at any time they are far more likely to take their work seriously. For help with employee performance reviews and evaluations, click here. 

Keeping employee turnover rates low is essential to running a smooth operation and keeping business humming.