8 Steps To Manage Rising Employee Attrition Rates
Are employee turnover rates increasing beyond your control? In fact, are the roles of departing employees becoming increasingly difficult to cover, effectively turning turnover into attrition? If this rings true, it is a clear sign that something within your organization is not right. Perhaps your company culture has lost its focus, or many employees are experiencing burnout. Whatever the cause is, it is essential that you take the right steps to identify it and take action before the situation becomes irreversible and detrimental to your business. In this article, we will discuss 8 steps you need to follow to manage rising employee attrition rates and steer your business back to success.
Addressing High Employee Attrition Rates In 8 Smart Steps
1. Take A Look At Your Company Culture
Rising employee attrition numbers indicate serious and widespread issues within your organization. Most usually, this refers to a dissonance between your intended company culture and the actual behaviors and values that are exhibited and rewarded among employees. Therefore, it is essential that you closely examine how you want your culture to be and how it truly is for employees experiencing it. If you pinpoint the ways in which your culture has strayed from its original form and purpose, you will be able to reinforce it and improve your effectiveness in retaining and attracting talent.
2. Be Honest And Open With Employees
If your company is struggling with high attrition rates, you can be certain that it hasn't gone unnoticed by your workforce. Their workloads will have increased, their teams might have shrunk, and the morale will definitely not be at an all-time high. In this case, the best thing to do is to give employees the honesty they deserve and admit that you are aware of the situation and willing to take the necessary steps to amend it. Ask for their honest feedback, without fear of judgment or reprisal, so you can start uncovering and understanding the daily challenges that impact their motivation and productivity.
3. Collect Anonymous Feedback
Honesty in the workplace should come naturally, but that is often not the case for employees. High turnover rates often create a sense of insecurity and instability within organizations, making it hard for employees to express their opinions, concerns, and complaints without fearing for their future in the company. However, their feedback is essential, and if you can't get it directly, then consider gathering it indirectly. Create questionnaires that employees can submit with complete anonymity so that they feel free to address any big or small issue that is impacting their work and may be contributing to the increase in employee exits.
4. Involve Managers And Leaders ASAP
Poor leadership is often the cause behind rising employee attrition rates. Besides, as the saying goes, "employees don't leave companies; they leave managers." This highlights the importance of involving management and leadership sooner rather than later and examining their role in employee turnover. This includes assessing their leadership style, communication skills, delegation habits, and any other factors that might drive employees away. To ensure a change in behavior and an improvement in employee engagement, consider establishing an accountability program for leaders. This initiative will closely monitor retention and motivation rates within their teams and hold leaders accountable for taking action to improve these metrics.
5. Analyze Recent Employee Losses
Losing an employee is rarely a desirable situation for any business. However, it can provide valuable insights that can help you improve rising employee attrition rates. First, there is the exit interview, during which employees share feedback and negative experiences in the workplace, often with more honesty than they displayed during their employment. Additionally, after an employee has departed, you can analyze the conditions that preceded their resignation, including the systems they used, their relationship with their manager and colleagues, and their compensation, among other factors. Dissecting your company's most notable employee losses with such a careful eye will undoubtedly uncover inadequacies and issues that may have previously gone unnoticed.
6. Conduct "Stay" Interviews
Even if you have noticed rising employee attrition rates in your organization, some individuals still choose to stay. It is essential to understand the reasons behind their decision to remain, particularly whether it is due to needing a paycheck or due to genuine loyalty and engagement. If the needle is tipping towards the former, you should ask long-term employees what is something that the organization can do to enhance their engagement. By collecting enough answers, you will be able to identify patterns in what drives employee motivation and engagement and make informed decisions about how you can improve employee retention.
7. Focus On Leadership Training
Earlier, we discussed the significance of managers and leaders in fostering employee engagement and retention. Therefore, apart from involving them in reducing employee turnover by establishing accountability programs, you must also provide them with the tools they need to improve. Search for appropriate courses and seminars to help managers and leaders enhance their communication skills, figure out a leadership style that works for them and their team, and learn how to create a positive and supportive work environment. This can happen either through mentorship programs within the organization or by collaborating with external coaches and experts.
8. Gather Data And Analyze It Carefully
When you start exploring the issue of rising employee attrition rates and decreasing engagement, you will likely end up with a plethora of data in your hands. This will come from surveys, performance reviews, feedback sessions, and other employee engagement metrics. However, you need to know what to do with this information in order to turn the situation around in your business. Don't rush into conclusions as soon as you see a concerning number. Pause enough to get a full picture of your company's circumstances, and then look for trends that might highlight issues with a specific manager, an internal process, or the company culture.
Conclusion
When you start losing employees faster than you can replace them, it can be a scary situation for any leader. At this point, it is your responsibility to stay calm, look into the reasons why this is happening, and take the necessary actions to spark change. In this article, we discussed 8 smart steps you can take to manage rising employee attrition rates by breaking down the reasons that lead employees out the door as well as the factors that may motivate them to stay. By following these steps, you will be able to decode what needs to be done to reduce turnover and build a loyal and engaged workforce.
