Reduce Employee Turnover By Keeping Them Engaged

Should you work to reduce employee turnover or roll over and accept it as today’s workplace standard? Stand up and fight, of course!

Employee turnover is expensive, especially among the sales department where quotas and revenue goals must be met. The average cost of recruiting, hiring and training an employee is typically 150% of their annual salary. That includes severance pay, vacation time, recruiting, new hire paperwork, resume reviews, interviews and new hire orientation and training. According to Gallup, some of the top reasons employees leave their jobs include:

• Their direct supervisor
• They’re not a good fit for the job
• They have less than dedicated coworkers
• They feel the pay and benefits are inadequate
• A lack of relationship or connection with the organization and management

Add the stress of trying to meet quotas into the mix and sales reps are even more susceptible to leaving their roles. Here are some of our recommended strategies to help reduce employee turnover.

Be strategic and meticulous when hiring.

The first step to reduce employee turnover is to hire the right people in the first place. Instead of soliciting resumes, start with a pre-screening and a test to help reduce your recruiters’ loads. Testing helps eliminate employee prospects who may not be a good fit for your organization (or whose resume may have been exaggerated), this helps you narrow down a more qualified prospect pool. This reduces costs and saves the time of recruiters and interviewing managers alike.

Improve Your Training Process.

A recent workforce survey found that only 66% of companies train their new hires for their jobs. If your employees are prepared for their jobs, they’re much more likely to engage with and succeed in your company’s goals.

Set up compensation and reward packages.

An article by Oracle states that over 90% of performance management systems aren’t coupled with a compensation system. Rewarding high performers for is crucial; they generate up to 67% more revenue. Offer an incentive reward program in addition to a competitive compensation package and you drive their motivation to achieve ultimate success.

Don’t leave out personal recognition-it goes a long way.

To ensure your compensation programs are implemented correctly, managers should conduct routine “one on ones” so they can assess employee performance, as well as assess any trouble-like red flags that signal possible turnover. Don’t forget acknowledgment employee accomplishments. Simple emails, public recognition, and advocating for them by presenting their accomplishments to senior management will go a long way. One on ones are crucial to strengthening the employee-manager bond, which happens to be one of the top five reasons employees leave their jobs.

Conduct and on insights from exit interviews.

Employees usually feel freer to be more candid and honest during exit interviews, so gaining insights from them on ways they feel the organization can be improved is crucial and implementing the needed improvements is imperative.

We hope you find the information we’ve shared valuable.

By: Steve Damerow
CEO, Incentive Solutions, Inc.