High staff turnover is a known and major problem for many labor-intensive industries. Learning how to limit high turnover may seem a daunting or even an impossible challenge, but if the correct approach is taken it is not necessarily as difficult as you might think.

Before looking at the measures you can take to reduce high staff turnover, it is worth reminding ourselves of some of the costs of high turnover:

·        Reduced productivity

·        Excessive recruitment costs

·        Poor employee morale

·        Safety issues

·        Poor customer relations

Not all of these may apply to you, but if your business has a high staff turnover, then some of these problems will be affecting you.

How Can I Limit High Turnover?

The key to reducing high staff turnover is to take a systematic approach to identifying and then eliminating the causes of the high turnover. If you are a manager going through this process, it is also worth remembering that ultimately you must take some share of the responsibility for your employees' happiness at work, and may be partly to blame if they wish to leave.

Hiring Right

The first step to reducing high turnover is to try and hire the right people to start with. The following steps are essential:

·        Interview thoroughly – ideally with two interviewers/interviews

·        Take up references – this is often omitted in high turnover industries

·        Check the validity of qualifications, if they are relevant

When interviewing, make sure you test the candidates' willingness to do the job that is required – for example, in a survey of candidates applying for childcare jobs, it was found that 15%-20% were not willing to perform essential tasks such as clearing up vomit and wiping runny noses. If your candidates are not interested in doing the job properly, they will end up leaving or being inefficient. Don't hire them.

Working Conditions

If one particular role is subject to high turnover, spend a half-day in that role and try to learn why the people doing it don't like it. Do they have the equipment they need? Is their working area comfortable and safe? Are they constantly subject to conflicting demands on their time or even to abuse from customers or other staff? All these factors can make people hate their job and seek to leave as soon as possible.

Communication & Change Management

Change management might sound like something that only high-tech firms need to do, but in reality it affects everyone. People are generally resistant to change, unless the need and nature of the change is explained to them in advance, and they feel reassured that they are prepared for it and it will not disadvantage them.

Good communication in any working environment is essential, and in environments where linguistic barriers might exist it is doubly so. Make the effort to find ways of communicating with your staff, keep them apprised of plans and of your expectations of them and encourage them to talk to you frankly about any problems they may have. Catching a problem early and dealing with it can be the difference between losing a good employee and gaining a happy and loyal employee.

Appraisals & Training

In high-turnover industries, it is quite common for training and appraisal of existing employees to be omitted or ineffective. Ironically, this can be one of the main reasons for high staff turnover. Employees whose training needs or on-the-job issues are not dealt with are likely to be dissatisfied and frustrated, and thus more inclined to leave.

A basic appraisal program does not have to be long-winded or complex – the basic principles are:

·        Is the employee doing their job well?

·        Do they have the skills they need?

·        Are they happy doing their job?

·        Recognize their achievements and perhaps reward them.

Skimping on training costs can be a false economy – it often costs a lot more in time, money and disruption to recruit someone than it does to train someone.

And Finally….

When your employees do leave, try to learn about their reasons for leaving. Exit interviews or surveys are a powerful tool for gaining information about the reasons your employees choose to leave. Whether it is poor pay, poor working conditions, lack of job satisfaction or poor management, you need to know. When an employee is leaving, then if they are treated with respect they will probably be happy to complete an exit interview and provide you with some objective information about any problems that might exist in your business.

Plans to reduce high staff turnover should be implemented with full senior management support, and if done so methodically, can and will significantly reduce your staff turnover, often in a surprisingly short time frame.