Employee turnover can be a serious drain on a company’s resources.

Not only does the company have to spend time and money training new employees, but they also lose the knowledge and experience of the previous hires who left.

Having some level of employee turnover is normal, but it is crucial to retain your top talent and build a consistent team so you’re not constantly hiring and training new employees.

How does turnover affect your business?

This can reduce the quality of your products and services and tarnish your business’s reputation.

Having a constant cycle of new staff members can distort your company culture as well. Employees tend to learn the values and rules of the workplace more effectively from their co-workers than from an employee handbook. Without long-term employees to set the tone, your company culture can suffer.

What causes employee turnover?

Some instances of employee turnover are inevitable and outside the company’s control, like when employees relocate or retire.

Employee turnover also can be the result of poor management, a negative company culture, a lack of career advancement opportunities, and inaccurate job descriptions.

It’s important to know the context behind the turnover reasons. By asking “who, when, and why,” you can create a simple framework that gives you more insight into the causes of the turnover rate you’re experiencing.

So, what do we mean by the “who, when, and why” of turnover?

Who: This can expose a cause that’s outside your control. Older workers choosing to retire versus disgruntled workers leaving to escape a toxic environment paint two very different pictures.

When (the employees left): This information may reveal patterns in turnover rates. For example, are people leaving during major sales periods, signaling they could be overworked because of poor scheduling?

Why (are people leaving?): This tells you what’s causing turnover. Are employees voluntarily leaving because they’re dissatisfied with their salary? Or maybe they are leaving because they feel burned out, overwhelmed, and undervalued?

How to improve employee turnover?

Now that you have a framework for narrowing down the causes of employee turnover, let’s look into 3 actionable steps to address it.

– Improve your onboarding process.

If your onboarding doesn’t help your new hires feel like they’re part of the team, it likely won’t reduce your turnover rate.  Creating clear expectations for the role before they’re hired can help an employee be productive from the start. Feeling as though they are hired for their specific talents can help eliminate any anxiety they have about possibly taking on a role that is beyond their area of expertise.

–Boost Employee Engagement

To boost engagement within your company, consider having team-building activities like group outings or monthly get-togethers. This approach can help build camaraderie among co-workers and increase overall positivity in the workplace. Moreover, your employees will be more motivated to stay within the company since they feel connected with colleagues and their employers.

–Promote Work-Life Balance

Provide your team members with opportunities to balance their work and life. For example, you can adopt flexible or remote working schedules to allow them to spend more time with their families. You can also look at their current workload and reallocate unrealistic demands. This way, your employees won’t feel burnout or too overwhelmed.

Cultivating a positive atmosphere, where employees feel respected and important, can yield many benefits.

Developing a positive work environment should be an essential part of your ongoing corporate strategy. After all, it’s one of the best ways to invest in your employees and make sure they can perform at their best.