By Dennis W. Koerner and Cindy Ogden
THE PROBLEM
- Turnover is the highest it has been in over a decade.*
- The turnover rate is even higher for the blue-collar workforce.
- If businesses are not careful, they can expect to lose more than 1 in 5 of their employees in the next year.
* Source: U.S. Department of Labor
THE CAUSE
Aside from pay and benefits, there are three common reasons employees leave.
- Not a good fit for the job. They were excited about the job when hired and either did not possess or weren’t trained on the skills needed to be successful.
- Lack of opportunities. When organizations have a set structure and a tenure with managers and leadership, employees may feel that there are no opportunities to learn and grow.
- Poor work environment. When employees don’t get along with coworkers or don’t feel supported by their manager, they leave. Plus, the new world of working remotely presents even greater challenges for building a positive work environment.
THE SOLUTION
We have identified three factors that drive engagement and retention and help you ensure that your company is a place where people want to work.
- Precision Hiring –Hire the right people for the job.
- Targeted Training –Give them the training they need.
- Employee Inspiration – Treat employees the way they want to be treated.
So how do you get started in addressing these factors? We have developed a Workforce Turnover Audit to help you identify and pinpoint why employees are leaving and provide you with a roadmap to address each priority. The audit uses a detailed inventory of job-related work experiences customized to the structure of your organization. Through AI technology, the system analyzes and calculates the effect and interaction of the employee likelihood of leaving to their demographics, job and organization structure, and perceptions of their job, team, manager, and organization. Using this smart data, we work with you to create a custom solution that will increase employee retention and make you an HR Hero.
Today’s economic challenges make the job market more dynamic than ever. Fierce competition for a reliable workforce is making organizations fight harder than ever to retain their top talent. This is especially true for low wage earners. Turnover in the United States is the highest it has been in over a decade, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. This means if businesses are not careful, they can expect to lose more than 1 in 5 of their employees in the next year. This turnover rate is much higher for a blue-collar workforce.
Stopping employee turnover and focusing on key retention strategies that include Hiring, Training, and Inspiring employees in a manner that is consistent with BOTH the business and the employees’ needs has been an HR strategy for many years. However, few organizations have been truly successful. Real employee engagement and retention is a summation of organization efforts (and investment) related to Hiring, Training, and Inspiring. For the quantitative at heart, here is your “Turnover Solution” equation:
The Turnover Solution Equation:
Turnover % = 1/ (Precision Hiring + Targeted Training + Employee Inspiration)
As the above equation indicates, the more effort you put into the use of data-based and optimized methods to properly Hire, Train, and Inspire your workforce, the lower your turnover percentage will be. Let’s take a closer look at these three factors.
- Precision Hiring – Different people were made for different jobs. Keeping employees starts with hiring the right employees. The first step in this process is to take a holistic view of the job needs. We create a carefully thought-out Workforce Selection Factors worksheet that encompasses the many aspects needed from a job applicant, including prior experience, skills, attitudes, behaviors, motivators, and the general mental ability needs relative to the job requirements. When employees do not precisely fit in with your work needs and environment, they get frustrated and leave. Even outstanding candidates who are hired but do not match the requirements of your business are not likely to stick around.
- Targeted Training – Employees place an enormous value on learning and personal growth. It is simply human nature to want to learn, develop, and realize growth opportunities, and there is a direct connection between lack of development opportunity and high turnover. To address this need, we analyze the data from our Workforce Turnover Audit to uncover any issues and problem areas. And since we understand that one-size-fits-all solutions are not the answer, we develop and employ targeted, custom training solutions to address your organization’s specific needs. Our carefully tailored system of checks and balances will ensure your employees’ success.
- Employee Inspiration – Employees need to feel like they are important, that the company cares about them, and that they have a good relationship with their co-workers and their managers. They need to trust the values and vision of the company. In our experience, this requires a high degree of understanding and adaptability, especially by supervisors and front-line managers. If our audit reveals a workplace environment issue, we can help you take a deeper dive to pinpoint the exact cause and develop a custom plan and process to create a workplace where employees want to be.
The Workforce Turnover Audit – Clearly no organization can focus on all organization development needs at once. So where do you start? That’s where our Workforce Turnover Audit comes in. We use a detailed inventory of job-related work experiences customized to the structure of your organization. Our data insights carefully examine the effect and interaction of the employees’ likelihood of leaving to their demographics, job and organization structure, and perceptions of their job, team, manager, and organization.
Based on our experience, an audit is much more insightful and effective than a survey. An off-the-shelf survey is like getting a general checkup at the doctor’s office when what you really need is a specialist. On the other hand, an audit provides diagnostic data and predictive models that can pinpoint specifically why turnover is happening and what specific actions are needed to correct the problem. Audits are data-based methods that use machine learning insights in complex people data sets for finding the specific causes of turnover and the severity of their impact.
Workforce Analytics – This is where it all comes together. We all need data to make great decisions, especially people decisions. And working with people data can be very complex. So, to be successful, we must harness the power of software and workforce analytics. As we all know, most if not all businesses regularly monitor key business results, such as revenue, customer retention rates, or profits and losses. They do this to ensure control and success. So why wouldn’t we do the same with key people metrics? By rigorously measuring people data, you can uncover employee needs and problems that are negatively impacting business results. These insights arm you with the confidence needed to take action and improve outcomes to become a true HR Hero.
“You cannot control what you do not measure.”
The Bottom Line
Turnover trends are compelling many companies and managers to up their games when it comes to employee retention strategies. Current high turnover rates are costly to the organization, and unfortunately, usually require significant investments to fix. Using a simple analogy, you cannot expect a slow car to go fast if you do not invest in a bigger and better engine. Fortunately, we provide the tools you need to get a bigger engine. By using data-based methods, we help you to (1) Hire the right people (2) Give them the training they need and (3) Treat them the way they want to be treated.
Next Steps
If you’re tired of employee turnover and looking for a way to reduce or eliminate the churn and burn effect, start with our Workforce Turnover Audit to assess exactly where your problems lie. You could have a roadmap for success in a matter of weeks and know exactly where to spend your limited time and resources that will make a real impact on your organization.
To get started, download our free eBook or contact us at 888-383-5488 for a 15-minute discussion on how the Workforce Turnover Audit can help you become an HR Hero for your organization!
