What is employee turnover ?
Employee turnover is the rate at which employees leave their jobs. It can be high, but it can also below, depending on the situation. In general, companies want employee turnover to be as low as possible. With the cost of hiring and training someone new rising, companies are under pressure to keep their costs down. When an employee leaves their job, companies face the added cost of training a replacement. It can cost a company thousands of dollars to replace an employee. To keep their costs as low as possible, companies will take whatever measures they can to reduce the employee turnover rate. The employee turnover rate is a key metric that HR professionals monitor. It shows how many employees quit their jobs compared to how many were hired. It can be used to explore employee retention and to benchmark your company's performance.
Employee Turnover- How to Handle Your Employees and Prevent Them from Leaving
What is high and low Employee Turnover?
Staff turnover is the number of employees who leave your company and need to be replaced with new hires. It is a big pain point for companies where retaining employees can be highly challenging.
Which is better, low or high staff turnover? The optimum staff turnover rate is 5%. Employee turnover of your company can help you know what your employees feel about the company and how you can leverage from knowing this.
What is low staff turnover?
No magic number indicates low employee turnover. There's nothing wrong with low employee turnover. In fact, a small number of quitters can be beneficial because they bring new energy and ideas.
But you must look at who is leaving. The loss of valuable employees has a greater impact than the loss of inefficient workers.
What is a high staff churn?
This is when a sizable number of employees consider leaving your company in a short period. If your employee turnover rate is more than 12- 15% then your working space might need some immediate transformation to understand employee needs better.
High employee turnover does not imply a bad workplace. Your employees may retire, travel, or change careers. It isn't much you can do to stop it.
But if you're losing talented employees to a rival company or because they are not satisfied, you need to keep them happy. Every time an employee leaves, you'll have to hire and train a replacement which costs a lot of time and money.
Hold exit interviews with departing employees to learn why they're leaving and devise a retention strategy.
To achieve the optimal employee turnover you could look into the average labor turnover rate in your industry, as some will be higher than others.
If your labor turnover is higher than average, you should investigate. But don't obsess over numbers. Reward loyal, hardworking employees instead. Learn how to increase employee retention.
How To Calculate Employee Turnover Rate?
Employee turnover is typically associated with a negative connotation because of the high cost of employee replacement. Employee turnover, on the other hand, isn't always a bad thing.
Having a high turnover rate can actually be a good thing if poor performers with a negative mindset are leaving your organization. On the other hand, a company's bottom line may suffer if the most valuable employees leave. This is why it's difficult to define a good turnover rate as it largely depends on the specific circumstances of each company and its workforce. As a result, it's important to consider the overall picture when looking at employee turnover.
The calculation formula employee is dividing the number number of people who left the company by the average number of individuals who worked there over a certain period of time, and the result is the turnover rate. In order to get a percentage, you need to multiply it by 100.
The average number of staff is calculated by taking the total number of employees employed by a company at the start and the end of a given period and dividing that number by 2.
There are mainly three variables used for calculating employee turnover.
- Over a certain period of time, how many employees left the company?
- When a certain period begins, how many employees does the company have?
- How many employees does the company have at the end of a certain period?
When it comes to employee turnover calculation, the formula is as follows-
Employee turnover rate = employee that left the company/ (employee at the beginning+employee at the end of that tenure)/2*100
Employee turnover is expensive. It costs about one-fifth of an employee’s annual salary to replace them, and can cost even more if the position is hard to fill.
Zipschedules suggests these strategies to increase employee retention and reduce turnover.
What are the Causes of Employee Turnover?
Below are some of the reasons for employee turnover-
1. The act of being rude-
Everyday humiliation has been shown to reduce productivity and lead to the departure of good workers, according to various studies.
Retaliation and a lack of respect are among the factors that contribute to employee turnover. Resentment and a sense of unfairness are not conducive to productive work environments.
2. Lack of work-life balance-
Intentionally or unintentionally, organizations continue to put pressure on one person and expect them to do the work of two or more people.
Employees in these situations are forced to choose between their personal and professional lives. When both spouses work, this brings extreme dissatisfaction in their personal lives.
3. An incompatibility between the goals and expectations of the job
Many times, a job description and promises made during an interview are drastically different from what a person is actually doing.
In the event that this occurs, distrust can develop.
Losing employees can be a nightmare for a business. They’re the backbone of your company, and without them, you’ll have no one to keep things running smoothly.
There are many ways you can reduce employee turnover and increase employee retention rates in your business. Zipschedules suggests some of the most effective methods.
4. Wrong hiring-
Only those who are qualified for the position and aligned with the company's values should be hired. If the fit isn't there, managers shouldn't try to make it happen any other way. In other words, it's like trying to squeeze a size 9 foot into an 8 shoe. Both management and employees will be unhappy, and this usually leads toemployee turnover.
5. When employees don't feel appreciated-
To be appreciated and rewarded for hard work is human nature. Financial compensation isn't required for acknowledgment. Gratitude and appreciation is the most effective form of recognition. Employees' sense of self-worth drives them to seek employment elsewhere if they discover they aren't being valued at their current company.
6. When leaders lack coaching skills and give no feedback-
Despite instinctively knowing that giving and receiving genuine feedback is essential for the development of successful teams and organizations, unproductive managers can put off some employees working under them as they are not managed properly and made more valuable. This affects employee turnover.
7. Lack of interpersonal skills-
Many managers rose through the ranks as a result of their ability to deliver on their responsibilities and produce results. That does not, however, imply that they are capable leaders. Leaders aren't born; they're created.
The ability to get along with employees and motivate others is something that can be learned, but having a natural knack for it is invaluable. In the absence of a leadership role, they will try to evade responsibility.
8. Instability within the company-
Workers are disconnected from the organization's purpose when management keeps reorganizing, changing direction, and moving people around.
It's difficult for employees to understand what's going on, what their priorities are, or what they should be doing at any given time. Turnover is inevitable as a result of the frustration caused by this.
9. Not rewarding your workforce due to financial reasons-
For economic reasons, raises and promotions are often put on hold, and they aren't resumed until the crisis is over.
The best compensation may not be a goal for some organizations. There is no doubt that if they don't, they should still offer competitive wages and benefits and make their employees feel appreciated! This is a must-have pair.
In order to motivate employees, a company needs to show them that they value their contributions by taking a proactive approach to thank them.
What are the types of Employee Turnover?
You can divide employee turnover types into three categories-
1. Voluntary and involuntary- When an employee decides to leave on their own accord, this is referred to as "voluntary turnover." Expelling is an example of involuntary turnover, while "Quits" refers to employee turnover that is voluntary on the employee's part.
Employees have a variety of reasons for quitting their jobs. Taking a job with another company, moving to a new location, or dealing with a personal matter may make it impossible for them to go to work.
Written notice of resignation is typically given to the employer when an employee voluntarily ends their employment relationship.
Involuntary turnover, or termination, firing, or discharge, refers to the dismissal of an employee due to poor performance, absence, or violation of workplace policies. When an employee is forced out of a job, it is known as an involuntary termination.
2. Desirable and undesirable-
There are many examples of desirable turnovers, such as when an underperformer is replaced by an employee who performs better than expected. Because of the high costs of non-performance and absenteeism, it's a good idea to find a way to replace underperformers with reliable workers.
Also, When new hire and skills are welcomed into an organization through employee turnover, it is desirable.
An undesirable turnover, on the other hand, means losing employees who are valuable assets in terms of their work output, expertise, and credentials.
3. Internal or external-
3. Internal or external- Employees changing jobs within the same company are said to be experiencing internal turnover.
Job change within the organization can have both positive and negative effects on projects and relationships. As a result, keeping tabs on both internal and external turnover may be a good idea.
Formal succession planning may be able to control internal turnover. An opportunity to help employees advance in their careers and reduce the cost of external turnover is generally seen as an advantage of internal transfers.
What is a Healthy Employee Turnover Rate?
It is unavoidable to lose some employees. As a result, you may be wondering what the idealemployee turnover rate is. When it comes to establishing a benchmark what should be the goal.
Because of the wide variation in turnover rates between industries, it is difficult to come up with a universal benchmark for the industry. But according to many recruiting firms, companies should establish their own unique ideal rate.
It's important to keep in mind that turnover rates can vary greatly from one industry to the next. There should be no more than a 10 percent turnover rate across the board, which is a very healthy turnover rate overall.
The hospitality industry, for example, usually has a high turnover rate of 28.6 percent, which is almost three times the "healthy" rate of 10 percent mentioned earlier.
How To Analyze Employee Turnover Rate?
To gain a better understanding of your employee turnover cost, simply answer the following three questions-
Who are the departing employees?
What time of their work cycle do they depart?
When they finally take a leave?
A company can identify these questions and rectify them with the help of an employee scheduling app known as Zipschedules.
Zipschedules Features lets you identify the following questions-
- A companion must ascertain who/which employees are departing-
Even if your turnover rate is lower, there is no cause to cheer unless and until you can identify the individuals who leave as it still affects the cost of employee turnover. If your best performers are leaving, you must act quickly or your company's performance will suffer. On the other hand, if your low performers leave, you may benefit from increased employee engagement, productivity, and profitability.
- Typically, when they decide to depart-
Typically, when they decide to depart- For instance, your new hire turnover rate can provide a wealth of information.
- It can provide insight into the effectiveness of your recruitment efforts. If a significant portion of your new hires leave because their job duties were different or more complicated than they anticipated, you may want to consider revising your job descriptions.
- Investing additional time and money into your orientation process may also be beneficial if employees leave due to cultural mismatches.
- Additionally, if your employees suffer from achieving work-life balance, you could consider offering additional employee engagement programs such as parental leave or flexible work hours.
Why do employees eventually leave?
Once you understand why your employees leave, you can adjust your management style or policies accordingly. Exit interviews are a good way to determine whether people have similar reasons for leaving or if they have constructive suggestions for how you can improve. For instance, employees frequently state that they resigned due to a lack of appreciation for their contributions and efforts. When these types of comments are made during exit interviews or performance reviews, HR should collaborate with managers to consider changing the performance management systems with a better appraisal process.
An employee turnover rate can provide insight into an organization's hidden problems. Conduct a review of your recruitment processes, make adjustments to your salary and benefits package, or implement a succession planning policy. Finally, by proactively addressing turnover issues, you can impact your organization and retain excellent employees.
Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover
Here are five ways great managers keep employees interested in the job for a longer time-
1. Managers that are well connected with their teams anticipate departures early. In the US 43 percent of former employees usually tell their coworkers before they actually leave. And 36% were actively looking for work for a month or more before quitting.
If a manager was smart enough and far-sighted then they could have made a difference by stopping some of their employees. Despite this, more than half of departing employees say no one from management or other leadership spoke to them about their job satisfaction or future prospects with the company.
The most important change managers can make is to talk to employees more frequently. Managers will be able to spot concerns, roadblocks, and signs of disengagement long before the employee leaves.
2. Considerate managers listen to employees' concerns and help prioritize work.
Employer issues can make managers feel helpless. Listening may not seem special or helpful.
Employees who have a manager who is always willing to listen to their concerns are 62% less likely to be exhausted. Listening is important for employee retention. It also makes employees feel valued.
Managers can also help employees sort and organize their work. Employees may worry about trivial details if there is no communication. Or they may be overwhelmed by the workload.
A few simple words or clarifications can express to employees, "I've got you. We're all in this." That makes a big difference.
Taking affirmative action is a powerful tool that empowers managers and can help employees when given the freedom and authority to make decisions.
3. Managers who have good relationships with their employees can come up with creative solutions. A minor change in a work schedule and KPI can make a big difference in a day.
Managers can give more freedom and authority to their coworkers to make their own work-related decisions. When a role doesn't quite fit, shifting responsibilities can help everyone find their sweet spot.
Not being able to communicate and impose corporate policy is the worst. Managers need the flexibility to customize roles, schedules, and policies. Managers must also be able to express their employees' concerns to leaders without worry.
When managers feel empowered by their leaders, they want to stay on the team.
4. Inspiring managers regularly acknowledge, give good work, and motivate employees. Ensure a consistent employee engagement that benefits individuals, teams, and businesses.
Employees will feel more cared for if managers talk to them more frequently. Management can go further by asking questions and listening with genuine concern. Managers can also address and appreciate employees informally rather than waiting for formal recognition.
In addition, managers help teams connect their daily work to the organization's mission. Not feeling valued at work causes people to leave.
5. Coaching managers can help struggling employees find a job within the company. Career opportunities are the main reason for leaving an employer. Some employees leave because they no longer see a future with their existing company, but there are many other factors involved as well.
As a coach, a manager can co-create a suitable and inspiring path forward. These people can remind their workers of their strengths rather than their flaws. Instead of focusing on the immediate crisis, they can show how this experience is preparing them for future growth and development that helps in reducing employee turnover.
It’s never easy to say goodbye to great employees who have helped grow your business.
By following these tips from Zipschedules, you can keep your best employees and prevent them from leaving.