Is employee turnover biting into your company’s profits? You hire the best people you can find … you train them … you might even give them annual raises, if you can … and yet they leave.
Why? Is this just part and parcel of doing business in today’s world? After all, the days of people staying with one company till they receive that gold watch are long gone … or are they?
A survey by Right Management found that an astonishing 60% of employees today are planning to move on at their earliest opportunity — despite the ongoing weak economy and high unemployment rates.
The Saratoga Institute estimates the average cost of employee turnover at one times that employee’s yearly salary. For a company with a turnover rate hovering around 15% (which is not uncommon), losing this many employees could easily cost that company upwards of a million dollars a year. Not to mention the time and energy spent in constantly finding, interviewing, hiring and training new hires. So why not spend some of that time and energy to keep your staff happy, loyal and productive instead?
Obviously, keeping good, talented people should be a priority for any company, since no matter how fantastic your products or services might be, in reality they can only be as good as your employees. People are always the number one resource for any business.
A helpful first step to improve retention is to determine why employees are so dissatisfied, and what steps can be taken to increase their satisfaction on the job.
According to research by Leigh Branham, author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late, some of the main causes of employee dissatisfaction include: loss of trust in senior leaders, lack of growth opportunities, stress, and a lack of coaching/feedback.
Coaching direct reports is something that many managers have trouble doing correctly, or even at all. I discuss this in my training program and conference workshops: “Courageous Coaching: It’s Not Easy, It’s Your Job!” I also review this topic in my Courageous Coaching “mini book.”
Surprisingly, according to Branham’s research, earning more money was not as big of an issue as to whether employees stayed or left their companies as you might believe. Many businesses have had to freeze raises in our weak economy, and employees understand that. But feeling undervalued or devalued at their job was one of the major determining factors of dissatisfaction, leading people to want to leave their positions.
Branham believes that employee turnover is largely avoidable, and BRODY agrees!
Leadership training and coaching can make a huge difference in how managers and executives interact with their staff, how they give feedback, and in the entire culture and climate of an organization.
It’s definitely true that attitude comes from the top down. For more information, check out our Relationship Management Training Programs.
If employee dissatisfaction and high turnover are a problem in your organization, we can help!
Contact us today for more information.