How Is Turnover Affecting Your Organization?

So what is your turnover rate? Is it 5%, 10%, 25%? Or, is it even higher? I guess the better question is: Do you know why employees are leaving your organization? And, if you do, what are you doing about it? In my years as an HR professional, I have learned that employees rarely leave for money - they leave because they don't feel appreciated or valued, they have a less than perfect relationship with their manager, they don't feel they "fit" in with the organization or don't know how they fit in, or they don't' see an opportunity to advance their career or grow. What's even more interesting, employees rarely leave for one of these reasons alone. If you were to talk to the employee leaving your organization, that employee would probably give you a couple of reasons that factored into his/her decision to finally leave the organization (or resign).

I have yet to meet an employee that is upset with fair and consistent treatment. Many times employees see undeserving team members promoted ahead of them, or learn they make more money when they view their own performance as better. They see the preferential treatment some of their colleagues receive when allowed to work on special projects, attend meetings that provide them more visibility, or seem to never get reprimanded for coming in late, or taking a long lunch break. Sometimes the known favoritism is a reason an employee may decide that it's time to move on- because there just isn't a level playing field. As managers and leaders in organizations, I would challenge you to get to know your employees, their likes, dislikes, and career interests. It's important to understand what drives and motivates your employees and their need to feel that you are genuinely concerned about their career development. I am always amazed by managers who tell me they don’t have time to talk to their employees, they are too busy, or that taking the time to complete performance reviews is too time consuming. My response is, that for you, as a manager, there is nothing that you do that is more important than identifying, developing, cultivating, and retaining talent - and you need to make time. I have even heard managers who know they have top performers say “I tell Jane she's doing a great job all the time. I don’t need to complete a performance review; she knows she's doing a good job." While I think employees appreciate receiving timely feedback and being told they are doing a good job, they also appreciate a manager taking the time to listen to what is important to them - whether it is a specific training class they want to attend, an idea they would like to share that could help the company become for efficient and effective, or learning how they can move up within the organization.

When an employee leaves your organization, are you taking the time to find out the reason they are leaving? And better yet, what are you doing with that feedback? I am a true believer that feedback is a gift - so are you using that gift to make your organization better? Or, are you throwing it away. If you learn that you have a manager who is abrasive, or that they do not take the time to cultivate and develop talent, what are you doing about it? I have seen plenty of situations where employees remain in organizations because they love working with and for their manager - they have a relationship and the employee feels a sense of loyalty. I have also seen situations where they have an ineffective manager and no action is taken to remove the manager, so employees leave.

There are tons of surveys published that provide insight as to why employees stay and leave organizations. Great cultures, great work environments and great managers retain great employees. There is a wonderful book I recommend managers and supervisors read called Love’em or Lose’em, Getting Good People to Stay, by Beverly Kane and Sharon Jordan-Evans. Based on their research, pay and benefits were number 11 out of the top 18 commons reasons employees stay. The top three reasons employees stay were career growth, exciting work and challenge, and meaningful work. Instead of conducting an exit interview, maybe it’s time to ask all of your existing employees one very important question - Why do you come to work here every day?