How to Reduce Turnover (Guest Blog)

According to Inc.com, the top three reasons employees quit their jobs include lack of advancement, poor work-life balance, and money in that order.  They also note that the top five deal breakers for employees include a boss that doesn’t trust you, work expectations during off time, difficult coworkers, boss blaming you for mistakes, and inflexible work.

Forbes states that the top six reasons an employee quits are lack of vision, lack of connection to the big picture, lack of empathy, lack of motivation, not seeing a future with the organization, and not having fun.

What is the prevalent theme amongst most of these motives?  Employees leave their leaders, not their organization.  This leaves the question, what can we ,as leaders, do to mitigate our employee turnover?

Poor communication is a commonly overlooked culprit in organizations with high turnover and is relatively simple – if not always easy – to correct.  Effective communication includes clear, concise, and frequent feedback (which reduces turnover).  That’s it.

Communication is “the imparting or exchanging of information or news” according to Dictionairy.com.  Communication happens both verbally and non-verbally.

Start by thinking about the best manager you have ever worked with.  List the attributes that made them a good manager.  Next, think about the worst manager you have ever worked with and list their qualities?  Now consider which one you more closely resemble and start working towards mirroring the manager you enjoyed working with.  While this is an overly simplified exercise, it is an excellent place for anyone to start (and to help reduce turnover!).

Some additional suggestions for clearer communication include:

• Set specific goals /expectations, so you are both on the same page (Leading to less turnover)
• Provide feedback often and immediately; both good and bad (Prevents turnover…over speeds it up)
• Allow employees to solve their problems – ask them how they think things should be done, then push them in the right direction
• Lead by example (King of turnover reduction)

Great communication takes time and effort, but everybody can get there with practice.  Start by thinking about one thing you can do to improve your communication skills and work on it for the next week.