Lessening the Impact of Employee Turnover - Workology

Lessening the Impact of Employee Turnover Becoming a Strategic Business Partner in HR and Recruiting In recent years, turnover rates have steadily increased due to lower unemployment, skills shortages in the labor market, and an increasing number of Baby Boomers reaching retirement age. While some turnover can be healthy, the costs associated with high turnover levels can accumulate quickly. Widespread factors such as a retiring population may be beyond your control, but there are steps as an HR professional you can take to help keep the turnover wave from crashing down on your organization. Assessing the Situation A successful effort to manage turnover starts with an in-depth assessment of your situation. How does the turnover in your organization compare with others in your industry? What about within your geographic area? According to the 2018 Turnover Report from the Compdata consulting practice at Salary.com, total turnover in 2018 reached 19.3% nationally across all industries, up from 15.7% in 2014. Voluntary turnover was reported at 14.2% in 2018, though that number varied greatly across different industries and regions. Understanding the levels of total and voluntary turnover that your peers are experiencing, and comparing it to your internal turnover metrics, can help you better understand what’s normal for today’s market, versus what is indicative of a larger, organization-specific problem. As you begin your analysis, you’ll need to consider many different factors when calculating turnover rates and costs within your organization. You’ll want to start with gathering a cross-functional team, determining data points to analyze, and working forward from there. Going Deeper While macro turnover trends may be obvious, you may need to dig a little deeper to find the underlying causes that are specific to your organization. It’s good to look at your organization’s turnover numbers from multiple angles. Some places to start when it comes to employee turnover: Tenure Age Skills Departments Shifts Managers Not only can it be telling to track the turnover of certain groups, but also to look at the staff who is staying. What are the main differences between these two groups? Becoming a Strategic Business Partner in HR and Recruiting Addressing turnover is critical not just for strengthening company culture, but also for lowering costs and staying competitive. And despite the economic trends, there are steps you can take to develop strategic solutions for your organization. Once you’ve identified the specific areas of opportunity for your organization, target your retention efforts where they’ll have the most impact. Keep departmental leadership current on potential turnover based on in-demand skills and take proactive steps to retain individuals in those areas. Conduct regular market reviews to ensure your compensation and benefits programs are competitive and consistent with your compensation and benefits philosophy and strategy. If you need assistance from a strategic partner, schedule a call with us to discuss how we can help. We can bring substantial value and expertise to your efforts and special projects.