Dealing with High Turnover: How to Fill in the Gaps and Stop Talent Loss
Posted August 2nd, 2010
Turnover happens. Whether your company is large or small or somewhere in between, employees leave. Some businesses experience a turnover that’s slow and steady, with employees leaving only because the commute is too long, there’s no room for advancement, their spouse has a terrific new job 200 miles away, etc.
But for some companies, employee turnover is almost a constant churn. This can be quite expensive, since the cost of hiring a new employee often can be at least 50 percent of a worker’s annual salary.
And that doesn’t even count the amount of money and/or productivity lost because the other employees must fill in and do some or all of the departed worker’s tasks until a replacement is found.
Here are some ideas to help cut down on employee turnover:
Are you paying your employees fairly? Are they receiving at or above the rate of pay other companies in your industry and geographical area pay their employees?
If you can’t raise salaries, try beefing up some other on-the-job benefits such as giving more vacation time, starting flex time and/or job sharing. For those employees who do mostly desk work, think about starting a telecommuting program. Reward those employees with perfect attendance with one or more days off. Think about starting a job sharing program
Make sure you reward your employees for doing outstanding work. Be sure to acknowledge their accomplishments publicly. Merit pay can be a terrific way to keep good employees.
Promote from within. Strive to make sure every single position in your company has a place to which an employee may “move up;” don’t let any job be considered a “dead end.”
Seriously consider offering to pay a portion of continuing education expenses, particularly for college.
No matter how great a place your company is, you will experience turnover. To help fill in the skill gap while you search for departing employees’ replacements, look to Bayside Solutions to help. We can bring in terrific temporary employees for companies in the construction, manufacturing, green, scientific and other technical industries in the San Francisco area. Contact us today.
