Employees leave organisations for several reasons. They may feel unhappy with their pay, working hours, management, workload, or the culture of the organisation. Employees generally leave for these reasons as it leads them to feel that they are not valued. In order for employees to want to stay at your organisation, they must feel valued.
Measuring Turnover
If you are not quite sure what your percentage turnover rate is, you just divide the number of leavers by the average total employed over the period and times it by 100. You can do this monthly or yearly. The UK average employee turnover rate is around 15% on a yearly basis, although you would need to consider the industry average too, as they can be widely different. For instance, call centres and the care sector tend to have a higher turnover rate than many other industries.
That is not to say that you can’t have a low employee turnover rate in these notoriously challenging sectors. These are some ways you can address high employee turnover rates in your organisation.
Improve Recruitment Processes
If you have a high employee turnover rate, you probably have questionable recruitment processes. When you refine your recruitment processes and ensure they are delivering the right people, you will be more likely to retain them. It is important not to just hire candidates because you are desperate to fill a role, you should always assess them properly and ensure they are the right fit. If you are using recruitment agencies, make sure you understand their processes and whether they are screening candidates before putting them forward.
Review Salary and Benefits
When you don’t pay a competitive salary and benefits, you won’t hold onto your staff – it is that simple. Employees do not want to feel that your competitors are all paying more than you, and if that is the case, why would they want to stay? Many companies make the mistake of thinking that increasing employees’ salaries will be too costly. However, the opposite is true. It costs more money to continue to hire new employees, when you consider advertising costs, recruitment agency fees, time managers spend interviewing and training, as opposed to working on projects. It is much more costly to hire a new employee than to pay your employees competitively.
Reward Employees
Employee recognition is also a useful way to address high employee turnover. Employees will feel that they are valued by the organisation if they receive rewards. It doesn’t need to be anything over the top. Look at our blog on employee recognition ideas for more inspiration.
Offer Flexibility
If it’s possible, flexible working should be considered and since the pandemic, an increasing number of companies are offering this. Flexible working can come in all shapes and forms. You may consider allowing employees to work from home 2 or 3 days a week, you could allow them to work condensed shifts and have full days off or consider hiring two part-time staff if you are struggling to fill a full-time position.
Promote Health and Wellbeing
Ensuring you are taking good care of your employee’s health and wellbeing is also vital for dealing with high employee turnover. Making sure employees are taking adequate breaks, encouraging exercise, checking in with them to ensure they are not struggling with anything, are just some ways to improve health and wellbeing within your organisation.
If you would like HR advice on addressing employee turnover in your organisation, you can email or call us for an initial chat at info@bluetreehr.uk or 07516 335419.
