Is Your Company Suffering from Attrition?
Employee turnover is an expected part of running a business, but too much attrition can hurt your company. Whether your employees are retiring, relocating, or choosing to work for others, losing employees can have a significant impact—and replacing them will cost you even more time, money, and resources.
The challenge for most companies is determining whether your attrition rates are normal or too high—and if you’re experiencing high employee turnover, figuring out what’s causing it and how to improve things.
Do you have realistic expectations for employee retention?
Even if your attrition rates seem high, they may actually be within the realms of normal for the modern workforce. Today’s employees almost never stay with one company for their entire careers—in fact, even a full decade at the same employer is rare.
In the United States, the average length of employment with one company for workers is just over five years. So what might appear to be high churn could simply be typical for today’s professionals. If your retention rates are hovering around five years, the best solution is to adjust your hiring strategy in preparation for this type of turnover.
What’s causing your employees to leave?
If you do have a higher-than-average employee turnover, there could be a number of reasons for the attrition. Some of the most common reasons employees leave their jobs, other than retirement or relocation, include:
- Hiring the wrong person for the job
- Poor onboarding process, limited or no training for the position
- Lack of an attractive, competitive salary
- Lack of benefits, perks, or rewards
- Poor work-life balance due to long or irregular hours
- Insufficient staffing, resulting in increased workloads for existing employees
- Lack of respect, feeling as if management doesn’t listen
- Limited or no opportunities for training or advancement
- Poor or repressive workplace culture
- Unclear goals and expectations for both individuals and the company as a whole
How to reduce attrition and retain employees longer
Your strategies for addressing workplace attrition should focus on the reasons employees are leaving your company. Compensation and benefits are typically one of the easiest reasons to uncover—find out what your competitors are offering, and compare your salary and benefits packages to see if yours falls short.
If employees are leaving soon after they’re hired, this may be one of several problems. You may be hiring the wrong employees, which means you’ll need to adjust your recruitment strategies. You may have an ineffective onboarding process that leaves new employees feeling lost or overwhelmed. Your incoming employees may not have realistic expectations about the job.
One way to investigate the reasons behind employee turnover is to conduct exit interviews. While not every employee will be fully honest about the reasons they’re leaving, you can typically uncover patterns that point to the real issues.
In addition to exit interviews, ask your employees for feedback while they’re still working for you. If your employees feel valued, and perceive that their input is both welcomed and acted upon, they’ll be more likely to stay with the company. Offer frequent feedback, provide perks and rewards—and simply say “thank you” more often to help your employees feel like valued contributors to your company. To learn more about how we can help you find top behavioral health talent, contact us today at (513) 651-9500 or by email at [email protected].