Why Employees Quit: 12 Tips to Lower Employee Turnover

Employee turnover can be a significant problem for any company, but it's never too late to make changes to keep good employees from leaving. By taking care of employees and providing a positive work environment, businesses can retain their best talent and reduce the cost of turnover.

Doyou have a problem with high employee turnover? There are many reasons why employees quit their jobs, such as higher pay, better benefits or cultural fit, starting a family, career change, etc. We bet you think it's a lost cause to fix the situation. Wrong! It's never too late for any company to change its processes to keep good employees from leaving. But how to get started?

Why lowering Employee Turnover is important?

We've compiled 12 tips to help you lower employee turnover. You might think these solutions are too expensive as you read through the blog. Wrong again! Have you ever considered the cost associated with employee turnover? Here are some startling statistics from Zippia regarding the cost:

Replacing a salaried employee can cost a company six to nine months of their salary, including the expenses of hiring, onboarding, lost productivity, and errors. For instance, if an employee earns $60,000 per year, it could cost about $30,000 to $45,000 to find a replacement for them. The cost increases with higher salaries.

12 tips for your business Tips for Lowering Employee Turnover 

Training a new employee to replace a high-performing employee is expensive and time-consuming. Learning the job and then actually producing a profit takes time. Depending on how fast the new employee knows, it may take a long time before they reach the level at which the last employee performed. Therefore, considering the cost of employee turnover, we don't think the suggestions we've compiled are that expensive. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the company in return.

1. Hire the right people
2. Prioritize onboarding procedures
3. Fire toxic employees
4. Provide career growth and development opportunities
5. Build an employee experience program
6. Offer flexible working hours
7. Maintain competitive pay and benefits
8. Recognize and reward employees
9. Show your appreciation
10. Cultivate company culture based on respect
11. Communicate effectively and be transparent
12. Analyze turnover reasons

Let's have a deep dive

This is the most important step to retain employees: hire the right people in the first place. Employees need qualifications matching the job description to do well, and you'll either need to fire them for poor performance or the employee will quit from frustration. Company culture also plays a role in the hiring process. Explain the culture during the job interview to ensure the candidate fits in well with the rest of the team.

Proper onboarding is a crucial first step for a new employee, as first impressions are key to building a solid foundation. Onboarding also should be completed for employees shifting to new positions within the company or moving to a new location. Your onboarding procedures should always include the new employee's manager, not just the HR department. According to Zippia, companies that have a solid onboarding process are able to keep 91% of their new employees beyond their first year.

Help your employees quickly become part of the company. Not only will they feel more comfortable in a new environment, but the company will also begin reaping benefits much faster. Proper onboarding is a win-win for all!

Although we are discussing ways to retain employees, we advocate only keeping the employees who are good for the company. Toxic employees have attitude problems and, despite providing feedback and opportunities, refuse to change. Other employees may feel uncomfortable or unsafe around this person, which can affect team morale. People need to want to change. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but can't force it to drink. Spending time, resources, and effort on an employee without wanting to change will weaken the company.

Stagnant careers do not promote employee happiness. Not many people are without ambition to elevate their careers. Providing career growth and development opportunities is a way to hire within the company and keep people around longer. After all, managers and executives who are well-versed in the company take less time to onboard, which means less training cost for someone in such a high-paying position.

Turnover is inevitable if no positions are available to promote someone who has earned a higher position; however, the exiting employee will have excellent things to say about the company that set them on the path to success. Positive referrals are another element to reducing the cost of turnover as you are more likely to have excellent candidates to select as a replacement.

Working without an exciting reprieve creates boredom in the workplace, no matter how interesting the work is. Experiences that build team camaraderie set the groundwork for innovative ideas or promote a feeling of belonging within the company… everything from the moment of hiring and onboarding through post-employment must be considered. Having a strategy in place can make the employee's experience within the company even easier and more rewarding. Employees are more likely to stay with a company that puts effort into considering how they will enjoy their working experience.

More companies are beginning to realize that employees have a life outside of work and taking children to school, attending afternoon classes, or anything that would make a normal 9 AM - 5 PM workday difficult. Offering flexible working hours allows employees to decide which times best fit their schedules. Of course, we understand some companies cannot do that (retail, for example), but if you can offer this outstanding benefit, your employees will thank you.

Competitive pay and benefits are crucial to retaining employees. Gallup research indicates that 44% of employees would consider accepting an offer at another company for a 20% or less raise. That's a significant pay increase, but you do have more options than offering a 20% raise. First, make sure you provide a competitive salary and benefits package. Competitive means at the market value or above to compete with similar positions. Next, offer benefits such as paid time off, 401(k) plans, insurance, and more if your budget allows. Staying above the competition at the beginning means other companies won't be able to swoop in and lure top employees just because they're offering more compensation.

Recognition and rewarding employees fall hand-in-hand with a great salary and benefits package. Being recognized can surpass the desire to transfer to another company for a salary increase. Working for a company that acknowledges a job done well can often make up for a lower salary. James Feldstein, President of Audio Den, had this to say in an interview with Kununu:

Good employees will leave a company if they don't receive recognition for their contribution. No one wants to continue to work hard and bring value to a company if their efforts are ignored. A thank you from management goes a long way.

Simple recognition doesn't need to cost anything. Congratulating an employee on closing a sale makes that employee feel good. If it is within your budget, a great motivator to continue great work is to compensate for that sale by giving the employee a bonus or even taking them out to lunch.

Appreciation is just as important as recognition; however, showing appreciation goes further than just recognizing a job done well. UC Berkeley states that gratitude can transform your workplace and that research indicates appreciative efforts lead to:

More positive emotions, less stress and fewer health complaints, a greater sense that we can achieve our goals, fewer sick days, and higher satisfaction with our jobs and coworkers.

Appreciate the hard work your employees put forth and demonstrate your appreciation. And don't just make a big deal of Employee Appreciation Day - show them every chance you get!

Aretha Franklin had it right when she wrote the song Respect. Find out what it means to me... Encouragement, being helpful, saying thank you. Even the little things team members and the executive team can do promotes a culture based on respect. Company culture has a direct impact on employee performance. And that culture can be cultivated based on respecting your employees. They, in turn, will appreciate the company and treat customers well.

Employees can understand how they fit into the company with proper communication and transparency. Communication is important for the employee to know how well (or not) they are doing within the company. Transparency is an opportunity to let the employee know how well the company is doing and its future goals. Employees want to help the company do well but need more than half the story. If the company needs to meet goals, let the employees know how they can help turn things around.

Employees leave companies all the time for many reasons. To find out how to reduce your employee turnover, you need to find out why that employee is leaving. Then, determine if there was something you could have done to keep that employee. Most causes are avoidable if the effort is put in place to eradicate the problem. Gallup created an excellent exit program guide to give you more in-depth strategies for improving retention, and we recommend you take a look.

Wrapping Up

There you have it! Twelve tips to help you lower your employee turnover. Keeping your top employees from jumping ship to another company is much easier if you follow these steps. We hope this list is helpful to you in improving employee happiness and fostering a much better place to work.