I have a high employee turnover #ABC2020

“Karen worked for ten days, Justin was barely here for a month and now Kevin wants to quit.” said the owner of a bakery I work with, who has such a high employee turnover, cannot keep her employees working long term.

Employee turnover being so high is costing the business owner heavily.  My research found that in the Canadian labor market, average employee turnover is anywhere between 23 to 65% depending on the industry. What could be the reasons and how can that be lowered for your business?

For Amanda’s bakery or any other small business for that matter the main reasons seem to be:

Low wages:

Yes, you are a wonderful boss and working for you is fun but although the government keeps increasing minimum-wages, it’s not sustainable for an employee. People are always on the lookout for higher pay. Set budget aside to pay your employees at least 20% above minimum-wage is for easier retention.

Market is very competitive.

If you do not pay above market standards to retain an employee, it’s no wonder that they are gone. In this economy the more you earn the better your life is. The more you pay your employees, the higher your retention rate is. Find out what other perks are offered by your competitors, other than higher pay rates would keep a good employee from quitting.

Misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the job while hiring.

When expectations are not clearly laid out during an interview or in the job posting, it’s possible for a prospective employee to think it’s an easy job. Once they’re on board, it is possible they would quit just out of shock at the actual workload. Maintain a policy of transparency and chalk out all your expectations into the job listing or list them out during the interview so that the new hire is aware and confident of expectations.

Inadequate capacity to pass training.

An employee could have looked sharp and efficient during an interview but simply does not catch up with training. Several repetitions with your training program later, your employee is still not catching on. This can be avoided if as part of the interview program the employee goes through a set of personality and skill testing.

Difficult boss or manager.

You’d be surprised, more often than not people quit their boss, not their jobs. Managing people is not easy, if you have a manager in place make sure they are super equipped with people skills and managerial responsibilities and are not power-hungry narcissists with a “better than thou” attitude. Just because they are good at tasks they perform doesn’t make them great managers or supervisors. And if you are the boss, don’t be a jerk. It is a simple as that.

A few other tips that might help retain employees

• Add incentives. Medical benefits, employee perks, and appreciation rewards go a long way.
• Unless you have to be hiring specialized talent, switch roles among employees so that nobody’s bored doing the same thing over and over again.
• Encourage employees to think for themselves and bring in fresh ideas. When you accept their ideas, they feel they belong and are appreciated and will want to stay.
• Hire the right person to begin with. Check backgrounds and jobs worked in the past, reasons for leaving other jobs, know their character and take them through behavioural and skill testing.
• Always have an exit interview. Every employee has a different reason for leaving. Sometimes it’s just a bad match and it’s out of your control but when you see a pattern, it becomes easier for you to make changes to accommodate them better.