Beating employee turnover

Retaining employees or reducing employee turnover is a challenge for most organisations. Although while joining, employees sign contracts promising to stay for a minimum time period, they end up leaving or having to leave anyway. Organisation invest in recruitment and selection, so when employees leave or switch all of a sudden, it becomes difficult to maintain the regular workflow and thus the need for sound employee retention practice becomes inevitable. So let's have a closer look in order to find the causes behind poor employee retention:

Unaware of hidden talent

Apart from the regular and expected activities of employees, each incumbent is skilled in other areas which tend to remain unnoticed and unexplored by the authority of the organisation. Sometimes incumbents with rich extracurricular backgrounds remain under-utilised. The department heads need to work on this and take note in order to utilise the organisational talent better.  

Not experimenting

Organisations tend to go for tried and tested formulas each time they have to carry out projects. When only employees with similar track records are given a chance to prove their mettle, other employees start to become dissatisfied. A simple job rotation helps in this regard. Experimenting with different employees conveys the notion that the organisation has a fair judgment.

Indifference to employee recognition

When employees perform well in solving crucial problems and show ingenuity in addition to their prescribed list of duties, sincere appreciation and recognition is due. But when their good work goes completely unnoticed and there is no effort shown, employees feel undervalued and detached, leading to job dissatisfaction.

Lack of follow-up

Today, many organisations become so involved in recruitment that they forget to follow up after a certain time, especially when the 'newness' of the recruited pool is gone. Sometimes the enthusiasm is more focussed on hiring fresh recruits than looking after the current ones. When loyal and senior employees don't feel special, in spite of their work and tenure, they feel that their efforts have been in vain. It is imperative that after the selection of employees, there must be regular follow-ups.

These reasons coupled with inertia from the side of organisation lead to poor retention. It is also true that there will always be some difference in opinions between employer and employee, but the loss of an experienced and talented incumbent shouldn't be the end result. Although today, replacement happens quickly because of the availability of applicants, letting go of a sincere employee without valid reason exhibits that the organisation is practising below par employee retention techniques, which will only de-motivate the remaining employees.