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  • As concerns pile up, employee morale can quickly go downhill. The challenge of losing valuable employees becomes particularly daunting in today’s competitive job market, where it takes an average of 24 days to fill a position.

    While hiring managers look for replacements, the remaining team members may find themselves taking on extra work. This additional workload can make staff feel overwhelmed and resentful, exacerbating existing issues within your organization – causing more team members to leave. The domino effect is real and immediate, so you must act quickly before the topple becomes unstoppable. Because staffing is such a pressing concern, hiring decisions often become rushed, leading to hiring mistakes that inadvertently undermine retention efforts.

    While some turnover is expected, careful planning leveraging people analytics can help avoid its normalization. However, if you’re experiencing perpetual turnover, it might be time to examine your company culture. Attracting and retaining talent requires finding underlying issues and creating a strategy to address them.

    What Causes Employee Turnover? 

    Employee turnover happens for various reasons, often interrelated, and understanding these can help your organization develop strategies to retain talent. Key causes include the following:

    • Low pay and inadequate benefits. According to the Pew Research Center, 63% of employees cited low pay as a leading factor in seeking alternative employment.
    • Lack of professional advancement opportunities. Employees often aspire to grow their skills and advance their careers. If they perceive a lack of opportunity to grow within your organization, they are more likely to look for one that will.
    • Negative company culture. Another common reason for high turnover is a toxic or unsupportive company culture. This includes issues such as a lack of diversity and inclusion, poor work-life balance, and poor management practices.
    • Lack of professional respect. Employees want to feel valued and respected for their contributions. Lack of respect can manifest in several ways, including not listening to employee feedback, ignoring achievements, or generally undervaluing an employee’s role in your organization.

    If your your organization is experieicning high emploee turnover, fixing every issue overnight is impossible. It will require careful planning and time to fully address the root causes. 

    Addressing High Employee Turnover

    High turnover can create a stressful environment for your entire team, and while you can’t simply flip a switch to fix everything, addressing the root issues as quickly as possible is essential to avoid long-lasting detrimental impacts.

    First, it’s vital that you take an honest look at your company. One way to do this is through utilizing exit interviews. Exit interviews should be a routine part of off-boarding, where you can gather insights. From an employee’s first to last day, the company’s core values should guide their experience. The exit interview is no exception.

    It’s never easy to hear criticisms and concerns, but you’ll never get to the root of problems without asking questions and then listening. This isn’t the time to defend your company. Departing employees need to feel heard. Use this time to probe into factors that made them want to leave. If candid feedback is the goal, then direct managers shouldn’t conduct interviews. Nobody wants to burn bridges, so hiring a reputable third party is considered the best practice.

    In addition, you can start to address issues through:

    Taking action

    Once key concerns are uncovered and exposed, act immediately. It’s easy to get distracted and not follow through. To offset that tendency, create a team responsible for moving things forward and implementing changes.

    This team can analyze gathered data and market intelligence to create an employee retention plan. If there’s a manager with high levels of turnover, use feedback to coach them. Any new changes instituted show current and former employees that you genuinely care. If left forgotten or unfinished, that sends a clear message as well.

    Hire strategically

    After identifying and addressing areas of improvement, take a look at your hiring process. Employee retention is about hiring the right person. Skills are typically a top consideration when speaking with candidates, but you must also assess how they will fit with your company culture. A skilled new hire needs to experience a sense of belonging to consider it a long-term fit.

    There are a couple of strategies to aid this process. First, ask behavioral interview questions to gauge how they respond to common company scenarios. Then, give them a tour and introduce them to various employees. This is helpful for both of you. You can observe how they interact, and they can get a sense of the workplace culture and if it suits them.

    Compensate adequately (beyond salary)

    While happy hours and team outings are absolutely appreciated (and an essential part of building a culture), they don’t pay the bills. Research the market value and typical benefits for critical roles in your region. If you want to compete for top talent, you must offer a competitive benefits package that reinforces your company’s value. Packages include salary, paid time off (PTO), vacation time, sick days, benefits, etc.

    Look beyond money

    As the saying goes, money doesn’t solve everything. Millennials rank giving back as a top priority. That translates into taking jobs where they make a difference with society’s more significant issues. Is community involvement a core value or a PR opportunity? For candidates who care, they’ll know the difference.

    The following are more win-win strategies you can incorporate:

    • Recognition motivates employees and makes them feel respected
    • Understanding aspirations and providing a career path keeps them inspired
    • Flexible work schedules show trust and reinforce the value of work/life balance 

    Ultimately, you want to craft an atmosphere that supports happy, productive employees. Collaborating with experts who understand HR best practices can be beneficial Working with a professional employer organization (PEO), specifically GMS, allows business owners to outsource all or part of their HR to help build these cultures and programs to retain employees.

    GMS Can Help

    GMS has advised companies for more than 20 years on how to evolve to meet growth and talent goals. GMS’ HR Account Managers specialize in crafting well-defined job descriptions, ensuring you attract candidates who genuinely fit the role. They excel in creating efficient and streamlined hiring processes, saving you valuable time and resources while finding top talent.

    PEOs like GMS, understand the importance of cultural fit and can guide you in aligning candidates with your company’s values and culture. When it comes to onboarding, GMS offers structured, effective processes to ensure new employees seamlessly transition into their roles, thereby reducing the risk of disengagement or early turnover.

    Let us help improve your turnover rates and help your business retain employees to create efficiency and longevity. Contact us today to learn more about how GMS can help your business.

  • As a business owner, employee turnover is a common occurrence. Employees move on for a variety of reasons, some personal, such as moving out of state, and others professional, such as a career change or a new opportunity. When current employees leave your organization, though it may be stressful news at first, you have an excellent opportunity to gain insight into your company and culture. Exit interviews and exit surveys can help you understand areas for improvement.

    Even if you have the best relationship with your team, as leadership, there are likely elements within your processes, policies, or culture that your employees dislike but have yet to voice their concerns about. Exit interviews are your window-in. When done correctly, they’ll give you honest and in-depth responses that can help address aspects affecting employee satisfaction and retention.

    Because you can’t always predict when team members will leave your company, it’s vital to have an exit interview or survey established and integrated into your offboarding process. This ensures you aren’t caught off guard and have the tools ready to capture invaluable information.

    What Is An Exit Interview?

    Like a job interview, an exit interview or exit survey is a series of questions you ask departing employees. These questions should include their reasons for leaving and their perceptions of company culture and leadership. In addition, inquire about salary and benefit expectations to understand what it takes to retain or attract top talent.

    Generally, exit interviews and surveys should take 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how many questions you include. An HR representative or a member of senior leadership should be present during interviews to hear answers first-hand. Take thorough notes during interviews, so your team can evaluate the answers afterward.

    In addition, store all the information collected in exit interviews and surveys in a clearly defined and easy-to-access place. Keep the stored information confidential and remove anything that would identify a former employee. This ensures you can refer to past interviews and identify patterns over time.

    Questions To Ask

    While general questions are helpful, it’s essential to carefully assess your business and the specific insights that would be the most beneficial. For example, if you aren’t aware of how your staff feels about leadership or benefits, tailor most of your questions around those areas.

    We’ve gathered a list of questions to help you get started:

    Why did you start looking for alternative employment?
    Starting with an open-ended question allows you to get directly to the root of why an employee is choosing to leave. Their answer can help direct your other questions. For example, if their answer is because of a lack of professional development, you can delve into more questions about what development opportunities would be beneficial in the future.

    Did you have a positive relationship with your manager/supervisor?
    Managers play a huge role in job satisfaction. In fact, 69% of people say their managers had the most significant impact on their mental health, which greatly impacts day-to-day productivity and satisfaction. As a leader, you’re likely only hearing from your managers and supervisors; this question allows employees to share any minor and major issues they may not have felt comfortable sharing while still employed.

    What was your relationship with your team like?
    Just like managers, team members play a vital role in day-to-day job satisfaction. Unhealthy or cruel team dynamics can take a significant toll on individuals. Understanding team dynamics can help you create a better work culture.

    Was your role and responsibilities clear from the start?
    As the needs of your company evolve, roles often transform. Asking this question can assist you in identifying areas where increased transparency and clarity with your team might be beneficial.

    Did your responsibilities change since you started? If yes, did you perceive these changes as positive or negative?
    Depending on the employee’s tenure with your company, their role may change significantly. This question will provide insight into whether there are ways you can improve the experience of others at your company on similar paths. Do you need to reevaluate job titles or compensation packages when roles develop? Does your team need more say in these changes, etc.?

    What advice would you give management or your team?
    This question can lead to surprising answers and give you ideas on how to improve the experience of everyone in your company. Although there may be ideas that aren’t realistic to implement, other suggestions can prove invaluable.

    Other questions you can ask include:

    • What was your favorite and least favorite aspect of your job?
    • Would you recommend this company to a friend?
    • Did you feel valued and appreciated during your time here?
    • If you ever flagged an issue to leadership, were you satisfied with the outcome?
    • What are you looking forward to in your new role?
    • Is there anything we didn’t cover you would like to add?

    Next Steps

    The work doesn’t end after you’ve gathered your departing employee’s responses. Have your leadership carefully review each answer. Flag areas that need to be addressed and make a clear plan for implementing changes. Ensure you communicate any developments with your remaining team members and allow them to share ideas or pain points.

    Remember that an exit interview shouldn’t be the only time you gather your team’s input. Regularly check in during one-on-ones, team meetings, or even performance reviews. Regular feedback sessions allow you to get ahead of any issues and address concerns before an employee departs.

    While it is too late to address the concerns of former employees, the changes you implement can have lasting impacts on your business, improving job satisfaction, retention, and recruitment efforts.

    Human Resources Information System

    Partnering with a professional employer organization (PEO) like GMS gives you access to powerful tools such as GMS Connect. GMS Connect is a fully integrated, cloud-based human resources information system (HRIS) that enables your services and drives your efficiencies from anywhere and on any device with internet access. Our software allows world-class payroll, benefits, HR, recruiting, performance management, and more – covering the entire HR spectrum from hire to retire.

    If you’re looking for a secure place to store information, such as exit interviews or survey data, GMS can help. Contact us today and let us help you manage your employee data.