By Management Aides 
Monday, March 03, 2003

I have worked in industries that averaged over 120% employee turnover. It is astounding that any company can achieve anything under such circumstances - you are basically operating in a continuous training mode!

Imagine what more could be achieved if your employees were around long enough to become competent. I certainly know what can be achieved - increased competence, accuracy, productivity, customer satisfaction, sales, lower labor costs, waste, loss, inventory levels…you name it! All of these directly and indirectly benefit your bottom line.

Employee turnover is caused by a number of reasons: poor applicant selection, poor training and job knowledge, negative work atmosphere, an unfulfilling work environment, and poor advancement opportunities being the primary ones.

Addressing these factors will go a long way in drastically reducing your employee turnover. These same factors also impact absenteeism, so you get to reduce two problems with one strategy!

Poor applicant selection

Many times we simply do not hire the right person for the job, either because we needed a "warm body and anyone will do" or because we didn't know what questions to ask and what to look for in the answers. Either of these approaches is a disservice to you, your company and the applicant.

You must fully understand the job's technical and soft skills requirements and must develop a series of questions aimed at uncovering whether applicants have what the job demands. The skills must be assigned weights based on their relative level of importance, and the questions must be equally asked of each applicant. These will ensure that you will end up comparing apples to apples when it is time to make a hiring decision.

Behavioral interviewing has worked wonderfully well for me for the past 20 years. Behavioral interviewing asks applicants the what, when, where, how and why of a particular behavior related to a specific skill. It works on the assumption that past behavior will likely be repeated. But it goes beyond that, in asking the applicant to explain why the behavior took place and what, if anything, would they would have done differently. For example, the ability to work under pressure in a deadline-driven job might be a skill needed for a particular position. You could ask, "Tell me of a time when you were under pressure to complete a project."

In the answer you would look at whether the applicant caused him or herself to be under pressure (i.e. by procrastinating); how the applicant handled the situation; did he or she welcome the challenge or shy away from it; how much experience does he or she demonstrate working under these conditions; etc. Behavioral interviewing reveals, among other things, an applicant's thought process and work belief system.

Poor training and job knowledge

Employees who are not properly trained and/or given the necessary knowledge to perform their jobs effectively will continuously find themselves in situations where they will feel incompetent. Nobody likes to feel incompetent - I certainly don't.

These feelings of inadequacy make people question their own abilities and ultimately their worth, leading to unhappiness, frustration and the search for another job.

Setting people up for success begins with proper training and continues with timely and relevant information dissemination and continuous training and development activities. People who are made to feel competent have a higher sense of self-confidence and are less likely to look somewhere else in search of reassurance.

An unfulfilling work environment

Autocratic leadership that cracks down on the entrepreneurial spirit, a negative work atmosphere charged with politics, back biting, turf-guarding, lack of recognition both monetary and non-monetary, lack of flexibility… these are some of the factors that contribute to an unfulfilling work environment.

The best applicants out there will not last long in an environment where they cannot flourish professionally and personally.

Poor advancement opportunities

Even if all the other factors have been taken care of, there will come a time when your applicant will outgrow you. You may lose him or her from your department, but why not try keeping him or her with your company?

Working with your employees on their career advancement opportunities within the company, and being a spokesperson for them among other management personnel, will go a long way in keeping high-potential employees from leaving the company.

If your company doesn't already have a Management Development and Succession Planning program in place, I suggest you start one. It will allow your employees to contribute to your growth and for your company to run smoothly for years to come.

-- This article is available for free reprint in exchange for credit to Letzen Maldonado and link to managementaides.com.