Why Preventing Turnover Should Be Your Plan A

Plan B is hiring a replacement. Plan C is making do without a key employee. Before you turn to those suboptimal strategies, do your best to enact Plan A. Namely, tamp down turnover and keep your top talent in place.

The financial cost of turnover can be measured in the thousands of dollars it takes to replace each departing employee. For an entry-level employee, this can equate to $1,500 each time you have to find a new worker. But for skilled team members or leadership positions, the cost can lead reach multiples of the employee’s salary.

One study found that companies lose a trillion dollars every year as a result of turnover costs. That’s right if companies pooled the cash they spend each year on turnover, they could buy Facebook at the end of the year. Then they could save up for a couple of years and buy Google.

And that’s just the financial costs. There are also disruptions to your business and opportunity costs to consider. That’s why the best strategy involves keeping your talent in the first place.

But how? Here are strategies you can enact that will help you prevent turnover:

Review Your Compensation and Benefits

Are you paying well enough? If your company has become a revolving door of workers, you might need to double-check your compensation packages. Research industry norms and ensure that you remain competitive.

Create a Welcoming Culture

Make your employees glad to come to work (even if they’re working from home). A welcoming, inclusive culture should form the bedrock of your retention strategy.

Provide Advancement Opportunities

Your top talent will leave if they can’t get ahead within your organization. For that reason, you need to provide a path to long-term career development. Without it, you become a training ground for someone else’s leaders to gain experience.

Watch Your Star Performers

Target your retention efforts where they will count the most. Prioritize your best performers and keep them happy. Even if you don’t have resources for a universal solution, you can get the most out of the ammunition you have.

Talk to Your High-Value Workers about Their Futures

Understand what it takes to retain your core staff members. Have regular conversations with them about their futures. This will give you the information you need to focus your efforts.

Prioritize Work/Life Balance

Overworking your employees is a sure way to drive them out the door. You might get a boost in short-term output, but your long-term productivity will suffer from the increased turnover. Instead, make facilitating a strong work/life balance for your staffers a core part of your retention strategy.

Don’t Wait for Bad Employees to Quit

Not all turnover is bad. Just as you want to target your top employees with your best retention game, you should become proactive with your low-performing workers. This will give you some control over the situation.

Optimize Your Hiring Process

Keeping your workers gets easier when you have the right team members to start with. A strong hiring process will match the right candidates with your open positions, putting them in an ideal circumstance to succeed.

Ready to upgrade your hiring procedures? A top staffing agency, like SmartTalent, can help. You’ll get the expertise and support you need to find the perfect long-term additions to your team.

Contact SmartTalent today to learn more.