Cost and Trends of Employee Turnover
The cost of employee turnover is real and it sucks. It sucks your time, your money and your team’s morale. Consider that the direct cost of replacing one employee is one-half (Gallup) to four times (Society for Human Resource Management) their annual salary. Add to that the indirect costs – impact on former co-workers, lost expertise and institutional knowledge, reduced productivity during the transition and the impact on customer service and brand reputation.
How do you reverse the turnover trend?
First of all, realize not all turnover is bad. Employees who are not good culture fits, are not qualified or are not productive don’t add to an organization’s mission, profits, culture or reputation. But losing a star employee due to factors within the control of the organization, such as ineffective new employee orientation, lack of professional development opportunities, poor organizational culture or unprepared or poor management is bad turnover.
Secondly, know your turnover rate. Measure your turnover rate at least once per year and compare it to your industry average. You should also assess trends in turnover such as high turnover in one department or division, age of departing employees and length of service at time of departure.
According to the hiring platform Indeed, the primary reasons for turnover include inconsistent management styles, lack of team member recognition, lack of opportunities for professional development, poor company culture and incompatibilities between team members and management. All of the reasons cited here are within the control of the organization through effective professional and leadership development. Investing even a fraction of the cost of turnover in training and development can result in a more engaged, productive and effective workforce.
About Leadership Johnson County
Leadership Johnson County’s Leadership To Your Door program offers workshops customized for you. We have a team of content experts who will deliver the training to your team, in your setting, and around your schedule. Our most popular workshops are half-day (3 hours) although we can customize anywhere from one hour to multiple days.
Popular topics include communication and collaboration, building trust, generational differences, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution and negotiation, team building, languages of appreciation in the workplace, and buddy to boss.
For more information about Leadership To Your Door workshops or developing an intentional professional development program for your organization, contact Bea Northcott at bnorthcott@leadershipjohnsoncounty.org or (317) 441-5295.