How to Reduce Employee Turnover

Employees are the foundation of any business. It can end up costing a company millions if they have a high annual turnover rate. This includes both voluntary and involuntary turnover. When an employee leaves an organization, not only does the employer have to find a replacement, the other employees may have to cover the workload for an indeterminate period of time. This can affect many areas of a business, not just the bottom line. Everything from the work environment to employee engagement will be affected. Most importantly, customer satisfaction is impacted because it takes new employees time to learn and understand the intricacies of your business.

Fortunately, there are proven ways that you can take to improve your organization’s employee turnover rate. PayActiv is one of those ways that improves employee retention and employee financial wellness. With PayActiv employers gain instant credit in the minds of employees and see measurable cost reduction from better recruitment, retention, and engagement.

This blog examines 10 ways you can start addressing employee turnover for your business.

Hiring Process Miscalculations

When interviewing candidates, it’s important to think about their role in the grand scheme of the company. Ask yourself a few key questions:

• Are they qualified?
• Do they have innate skills that will benefit the company?
• Can they fit into the company culture?
• Will they carry the company’s mission statements forward?

If your candidate checks most of these criteria, they have a higher potential for becoming long term employees and are less likely to be poor performers.

Onboarding the Right Way

When introducing and training your new employees, you have to ensure that they have a smooth start at their job. This can entail a number of steps:

• Streamline the process: ensure that it’s an efficient and timely process that doesn’t discourage employees right out the gate.
• Educate: focus on imparting the core values of your company and articulating the rewards system that is there.
• Be deliberate and thoughtful: showing your new employees that you are invested in them from the beginning, will make them feel valued.

Work-Life Balance

Stability will breed confidence in your organization. Employees need stable work hours and predictable schedules to better help them plan their own lives. This could include childcare, school, doctor’s appointments, etc. When there’s a set work schedule, your employees can make long term plans without the stress of the unknown future.

Organizational Instability

Your employees rely on the leadership to keep things running smoothly. If there is constant restructuring and movement among the higher-ups, employees will feel less inclined to stay. Creating a stable work environment for employees is another way to reassure employees and reduce employee turnover rates.

Company Culture

If the employees feel like they are supported and valued, they are more likely to stay longer with you. This is true not only for the senior and salaried workers but also for hourly workers. Most companies fail to build and communicate company values and mission with their hourly workers. If a worker doesn’t feel aligned or an important part of the company then they are not likely to build a sense of loyalty for where they work.

Feedback/Communication

In order for any organization to function, communication is key. Everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to the goals and values of a company. If there is not a clear direction, employees can feel as though their work doesn’t matter and lose motivation. This goes hand in hand with giving and receiving feedback. It’s important to open the lines of productive communication with employees. They should feel as though they can have a constructive conversation about their performance, as well as yours. It’s the only way to know what is really needed in your company from the ground up.

Professional Development

Your employees are an investment. You want the best working for you and that requires giving your employees the chance to grow. Encouraging their growth will benefit you and your organization greatly. Employees who have the chance at professional development are able to bring new skills and ideas to your company. Keeping you competitive and at the forefront of your industry. Your employees will also feel valued and loyal to your company in the long run.

Employee Benefits

The needs of your employees go beyond that of having paper in the printer and fresh coffee. On top of their paychecks, employees need to feel secure and supported. This includes insurance, paid time off, and a financial wellness program that meets both long term and short needs of employees. It’s important to tailor your benefits to the group of employees that have the highest turnover rates. Hourly workers may need different benefits in comparison to salaried employees.

Financial Wellness

Money matters are one of the top reasons for employee stress and a leading cause of employee turnover. Many companies have started offering financial education in addition to 401K programs, which is a great start because planning is an essential tool for financial wellness. But, the matter of fact is that these programs do not help a large majority of the employees who are not living paycheck to paycheck and are more worried about keeping the lights on than planning for their retirement. Six years ago PayActiv developed a unique new financial wellness program to meet the financial needs of lower income workers with a real solution, Timely Earned Wage Access. Businesses that offer PayActiv to their employees see employee turnover reduce by over 30% among hourly workers.

Exit Interviews

Sometimes employees choose to leave regardless of the benefits available to them. It’s important to conduct thorough exit interviews. This will help ensure that you learn everything you can on how to improve your company for the better. This is a great time to self-review on what you’ve done well and what could be done better in the future for your employees.

Take Away:

Employee turnover is one of the more challenging aspects of any business. Your employees need stability and reliability in order to perform at their best, and your business needs to stop wasting money on high turnover. Taking the steps mentioned above is the answer, but where do you start? We would love to talk to you about why employee financial wellness is the foundation for building a strong loyal workforce.