What Is Employee Turnover? Causes, Effects & Tips to Reduce

Employee turnover has ever since been a big challenge for organizations. Every year, hundreds of businesses suffer from huge losses because of the uncontrolled employee turnover rates. Many studies highlight the employee turnover affects. It is safe to say that an employee turnover problem leads to increased cost and burden on expenses, but it is also detrimental to its image.

A study suggests that employee turnover issues and the challenge of acquiring new employees can cost as much as 1.5 to 2 times the employee's salary. This amount spent is a total waste because the productivity during the employee turnover also sees a halt. Considering how employee turnover causes issues for employers, organizations search for ways to combat this issue.

Thankfully there are certain ways through which you can head towards reducing employee turnover rate and retain the talent you wish to see and perform in your organization. Before we head to the tips to reduce employee turnover, let's learn about employee turnover, meaning, causes and challenges.

Causes of Employee Turnover

Hiring new talents for a business is a tough process, and it becomes even harder when your business is in the initial growth or development phase. Here are some causes that might bring you to lose valuable employees.

1. Workload

If employees have too much stuff on their schedule and feel overwhelmed, they'll likely start looking for a new job. It's not uncommon for employees to feel this way on rare occasions; nevertheless, it may become excessive if it becomes a regular occurrence.

They may need to work longer hours to keep up with the burden, and as a result, the work/life balance may become significantly skewed. This extra workload is also a sign of a toxic workplace, and a toxic workplace is less likely to retain good employees.

2. Lack of Growth

It's critical to provide opportunities for employees to grow and develop if you want to keep them. If a person feels imprisoned in a dead-end job, they are more likely to seek opportunities to advance their status and pay at other organizations.

3. Not giving them Feedback

You can be pushing your stuff away if you don't give them feedback. Because giving and receiving feedback is the first step in assuring your employees' success, skipping this step might be detrimental to their progress.

If you ignore the chance for input or provide bad comments, your employee will flounder, grow discouraged, struggle, and eventually give up.

How to Reduce Employee Turnover

Employee turnover is a metric that measures how frequently employees leave a company on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. Voluntary and involuntary turnover is included in turnover rates.

In other words, it includes those who left the company for personal reasons, pursued new jobs or educational possibilities, retired (voluntary), and those who were fired for performance or behavior infractions or as part of broader layoffs (involuntary). If your company is also suffering from employee turnover or wants to take preventative measures, here are a few tips to give a try.

1. Wise Recruiting

Recruiting an employee isn't just picking a CV, finding a candidate with the right words, and hitting the hire button. Fine recruiting leads to fine results, and sometimes, poor recruiting is a major reason employees won't stay. Hence recruiters must be open and clear about the expectations they have set from the employees. They should be clear about the job description and should carry out certain tests or interviews that identify whether or not an employee is a right fit for the job.

2. Keeping up with the Competition

Many researchers highlight the importance of compensation and offering them competitive salary packages. You should provide numerous employee incentives and advantages such as paid leaves, bonuses or employee purchase programs -  because pay and benefits are two of the most important reasons people take employment and show up for work every day.

It's also one of the most common reasons for professionals to change jobs. It's no surprise, then, that more salary is at the top of the list of factors that would persuade workers to stay, followed by time off and benefits.

3. Work Culture

While incentives and benefits are what you give to the employees, sometimes, employee retention extends beyond that. Creating and fostering a positive work culture is part of why an employee would want to stay. Rather than just providing monetary benefits, give your employees a sense of belonging and peace of mind. Make them feel important in the organization's big role and ensure that they feel challenged enough to do their best every day.

This begins with performance management best practices where the leaders are challenged enough to do their job in a unique competitive way. Encouraging healthy competition is a way to bring your employees closer, and you can also then introduce various types of performance appraisals to grant the rewards.

4. Not Retaining Some Employees

This might seem contradictory but filtering out the wrong choices is as important as keeping the right ones. The famous phrase goes: 'A stitch in time saves nine; this is also true for a workplace. Sometimes, some employees will not fit in and may not respect your organization's goals no matter what you do. It is better to lay off such employees to invest your time and effort in those who will be beneficial.

5. Encourage Healthy Connections

Encourage your staff to be pro-social. Employees will be healthier, happier, and less inclined to leave if they can engage with one another through acts of connection and appreciation. You may also offer individuals a sense of ownership of the firm by encouraging them to be on the lookout for good behaviors to praise.

6. Promise Them Growth

Employees who have been stuck in one work for an extended period may look for a new position where they can advance. The majority of employees seek to improve their skills and knowledge to advance their careers. Employees gain a sense of direction and purpose by seeing a predicted career path.

It would help if you outlined a clear career path for your personnel. From where they are now, where can they go? Maybe it's a lateral or upward move. Alternatively, your staff may be able to get extra responsibilities in their existing role. You can also carry out training sessions and various programs to encourage growth and skill development in your employees