This Is How You Lower Employee Turnover Rate

Many retail businesses are faced with the problem of high employee turnover. Not only is the cost of replacing an employee expensive, it also hurts the business by not allowing it to grow and operate to it’s potential.

There are various steps that owners can take to improve their overall employee relations and in turn, keep turnover rates relatively low. After all, keeping your employees satisfied leads to better productivity, growth, and profitability.

Hire the Right People

Recruiting a person who is not right for the job is a waste of time and money. You need to hire people who represent the best ‘match’ in terms of their personality attributes, skills, and experience. These are the employees who are most likely to perform best in the job. They are also the people who are more than likely to remain employed for some time.

Provide Proper Training

Once an employee is hired, it’s important to train them thoroughly. Proper and adequate training ensures that new employees feel comfortable in performing their job role successfully. Poor training can result in the employee leaving within the first few days or weeks as they may find the job difficult to undertake.  Providing well-planned training can help to decrease staff turnover by ensuring that new employees settle quickly in their jobs and reach an efficient standard of performance as soon as possible.

Offer Attractive Salary Packages

Businesses must be able to offer a competitive rate of pay in order to retain good members of staff. If an employee can perform the same job and be paid more elsewhere, then they will most probably leave. A good employer must be able to compete with the pay and benefits offered by rival businesses so that their employees are less likely to be enticed by other offers.

Provide Opportunities

By offering opportunities to grow within the business, owners can reduce staff turnover by giving them a reason to stay. However, if there are no or limited opportunities for employees to further their careers, it will inevitably lead to them looking for other jobs. Whilst it is impossible to promote every employee, certain jobs could be redesigned so that employees have more responsibilities. This will help to keep them stimulated and motivated to work harder.  They may then feel more fulfilled, as the job will be more challenging and hopefully prevent them from looking for opportunities elsewhere.

Recognise Staff

Take time regularly to recognise your staff individually. Many employees will lose enthusiasm and motivation if they don’t feel valued and may seek employment elsewhere. Encourage other team members to also recognise their peers as this can be an important tool in motivating staff. Consider setting up initiatives such as “Employee of the Month” to assist you with this process. Being able to identify and reward those employees who conduct their work to a high standard will make others take notice. This can lead to increased productivity as other employees also strive to succeed in order to get recognised.

Create a Positive Work Environment

Employees need to enjoy being at work so that they remain working for your business. Providing them with a positive work environment can make a difference and boost morale. Simple things like recognising staff birthdays with a morning tea or allowing flexible starting and finishing hours when they have an appointment can make all the difference to their work/life balance. Remember that your team are individuals first and employees second.

Encourage Decision Making

Your employees work in your business and they are the best people to listen to when it comes to any new ideas. They know what works and what doesn’t or what changes are needed to make things better. Encourage them to put forward their ideas and involve them in discussions about how the business operates and how it can be improved. Implementing their ideas where feasible, helps to build a more collaborative and innovative work environment. Involving employees in decisions that affect their jobs gives them a sense of belonging and therefore they are less likely to leave.

Key Points to Remember

• Recruit the right person with the right skills and qualifications for the job.
• Ensure staff are adequately trained.
• Offer an attractive and competitive benefits package.
• Provide growth opportunities for employees.
• Demonstrate respect for employees.
• Offer performance feedback.
• Make work fun.
• Involve employees in decision making.
• Recognise excellent performance.
• Communicate with employees

Reducing employee turnover is dependent on the total work environment that your business provides. Creating a positive environment allows employees to perform at their best, which is the key to running a successful business and retaining staff.

Read Grow employee engagement with trust and involvement