4 Steps to Reduce Turnover

1) Turnover often starts with a bad hire. Often a bad hire results from a poor hiring process. In many companies the hiring process is random, unstructured and riddled with incompetent people. Hiring managers usually wait until they need someone before starting the hiring process. After two or three months of interviewing they have one or two good solid below average candidates, but won’t make a decision until they at least three good solid below candidates. By this time they are desperate and we all know what kind of decisions we make when desperate.

Couple that with most hiring managers are not really competent or comfortable with interviewing and is it any wonder why hiring often fails? A few hiring managers are really good at hiring, but most simply ask the same questions they were asked when they interviewed. Few probe deeply into the candidate’s ability to deliver the performance the hiring manager expects. So the candidate’s expectations once on board do not align with the hiring manager’s. Leaving the hiring manager to think, “You’re not the person I hired.” All because of a bad hire at the start.

There are many more reasons for the hiring process to fail but these are two big contributors. If your company wants to reduce turnover the first step is developing a structured, repeatable process with trained competent people. To see a list of steps in an effective hiring process.

2) Lack of effectively training new employees. This is not an orientation program. It is formal training program to ensure the person is well trained in the tools, resources, industry jargon, processes or regulations, and systems necessary to deliver the performance standards the hiring manager expects.

Too often hiring managers can’t find the right person so they hire a lighter person and “will train them once on board.” YEA RIGHT. Even entry level employees need some structured training program to come up to speed. If the company doesn’t provide effective training the highest potential employee will become frustrated and eventually quit. Nobody wants to come to work every day frustrated because they were not properly trained.

3) A boss they can respect. We often hear how candidates put on their best face during the interview. Candidates are on their best behavior so it is hard to get to the real person. This is also true of hiring managers. Once on board candidates often think, “You’re NOT the person that hired me?” If the hiring manager is not respected by the employee turnover is only a matter of time.

If you have a hiring manager with constant turnover it may be time to focus on the hiring manager. Are they possibly the problem. Training them to be an effective hiring manager maybe necessary. We recommend that all companies should require all their managers and any future manager to read the book, “First Break All The Rules.” The subtitle tells the real reason, “What the world’s greatest managers do different.” If you want to know what the world’s greatest do to become a world’s greatest managers this is the book to read.

Most studies show this is the biggest reason people leave. There is a saying, “People don’t leave the company, they leave their boss.”

4) Culture of non-performance. Top talent want three things in a position to stay motivated. Since your top talent usually leave before the below performing person that has been on your staff for years, top talent should be the focus. The bottom 10 to 20% never leave (another blog article for later). To retain top talent your company must provide top talent; 1) an opportunity to learn, 2)the opportunity to make an impact, and 3) the opportunity for them to become something better or grow. When any one of these three is eliminated top talent starts the job search.

By having monthly or at least quarterly private and regularly scheduled one-to-one’s with your best people you will find out if any one of the three is diminishing or been eliminated. At least then you can address the issue. Without the one-to-one few managers ever realize their top talent is lacking one or all three of these. Once most companies realize the real cost of turnover then these four won’t seem like such a burden.