The average turnover rate is around 15% in the UK, although the numbers vary between different industries. Last year (2019) ExpertHR reported the average turnover rates in media and advertising at 17%, technology 18.3% and as high as 31% in sales and marketing employees.
Do you know what your employee turnover rates are and how much it’s costing your agency in recruitment and lost revenue each year?
People leave their jobs for a variety of reasons. Employees will leave if there’s an unhealthy work environment, they have misaligned values or there is a lack of benefits that show you care. What used to be considered as perks are now expected as the minimum from the millennials and gen zers.
Before I delve deeper into ways to boost retention, I suppose it’s worth mentioning recruitment. How often do you evaluate your processes in this area? Clear communication with your recruits on their job role, what's expected of them, what you provide in terms of training, support and career development will avoid any mistrust and relationship breakdowns in the future.
You’re in a competitive marketplace and doing your best, but is there something you’re overlooking when it comes to improving your employee retention rates?
As much as I try to avoid the C-word, I’m afraid it’s going to have an impact on our lives for quite some time. Think you and your teams have done well to have kept operating over the past four months? I’ve got news for you, unless your team has been properly supported with their health and wellbeing, BURNOUT will soon be a huge problem for your employees and your business. If you think this has nothing to do with retaining staff then read on for some ideas on how you can increase team morale, loyalty, and profits by reducing your staff turnover.
1. Monitor Employee Satisfaction
A reason why employees choose to find alternative employment is through boredom or feeling unhappy in their role. Keep your eye on team members that don’t contribute or get involved with the wider team, this is a sign that they could have disengaged and are ready to jump ship. This can also be a sign that they may not be coping in general and they could be suffering from stress or a mental health problem that has caused them to withdraw.
Employee satisfaction surveys are quite an easy task to do, so I was shocked to read in The Wow Company’s Benchpress Report 2020 that 23% of the 956 Agencies surveyed never measure staff satisfaction/engagement and a further 21% only measure this annually. If you don’t know how your staff are feeling, then how can you engage them to give you their best back?
If you aren’t measuring employee satisfaction, there has never been a better time to start. Clear communication on what you are trying to achieve is key to successful participation. When people respond, you must do to. Action, when people see you are listening to them and making changes for their better, you will build better rapport with your teams. Who in turn will feel happier and hold better job satisfaction.
2. Improve Management Training
Have you ever heard the saying, “An employee never leaves a company, they leave a boss”?
If you are losing your most talented members of staff, you may have to consider it could be down to poor management. Most people get the position of manager because they are good at their job, not necessarily because they are good at managing people.
Training for managers should reflect this, to best equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to best perform in their role but to also support their teams.
Take our Agency Health and Wellbeing Questionnaire it contains a section of questions that aim to find out if managers have had training to confidently advocate and encourage good health and wellbeing practices to those they directly manage, amongst other useful questions to ask your agency.
3. Have an Employee Retention Strategy
I know, it seems there are strategies for everything these days. However poor retention could be costing your businesses a fortune, without you even realising it!
It’s often a kick in the teeth or a stab in the back when someone resigns, but it doesn’t have to feel this way. Have you considered it’s an extreme cry for help for some?
If they’re a great employee, you should be doing everything in your power to keep them at your agency. If that fails, then collecting feedback from all leavers is critical to your long-term success. Learn from the feedback to help you improve if you can!
4. Pay and Benefits
As part of your retention strategy, you should ensure that employees are competitively compensated with their experience, skills, and time with your agency. Penny pinching in the short term will cost you in the long run when you look at the costs of recruiting and training due to a high turnover rate.
However, gone are the days of who pays the most, gets the best talent. Employees want more than just money; they want experiences and rewards. They want an employer that cares about them and others. People want their employers to provide environments where they can achieve fulfilment, meaning and giving back to society.
A recent survey by Peldon Rose found that 76% of Gen Z said it’s vital their employer promotes wellbeing. They are expecting leadership to create a working environment with their health and wellbeing in mind.
Will employees leave your organisation for an employer that offers health and wellbeing benefits at the core of their employment package and culture?
5. Review Your Manpower
There’s no doubting that recent times have been difficult for most organisations in different ways. If your staff turnover rates are high, now might be a good time to stop on-boarding new recruits and review your current situation.
Perhaps earlier growth phases meant you took on too many people at one time. Take stock of your current employees, are they skilled and knowledgeable in what you are asking them to do? Are there gaps in their training and development? Have they had a recent appraisal?
This will boost morale and loyalty in your current workforce, up-skilling individuals and preparing them for the busier times ahead and hopefully plugging the loss of further employees.
I hope you find this information useful? I'm always happy to chat with any business owners who think they may need help, but don't know where to start or what to implement. You can schedule an informal call with me here and remember you can take our agency health and wellbeing questionnaire to see how you are performing.
If you are interested in more blogs around workplace health and wellbeing then visit our website inhousehealth.
