There are 2 Ways to Cut Turnover. Which is Yours?

Let’s Start with a One Question Quiz on Turnover

This is a quiz with two possible answers, with one being right and the other being very, very wrong. And as a clue, the correct answer is based on science whereas the wrong answer is based on “best practices”.

“Best Practices” for Turnover?

What are “best practices”, anyhow? I’ve been reading articles for decades about “here are five ways to cut turnover” or whatever. These articles present five ideas from a core of about twenty generic ones like “recognize good performance”, and they never seem to include data as in “by recognizing good performance, Joe Blow’s company cut turnover by 15%”. “Best practices” tend to be generic ones with no evidence that they work.

Science, on the other hand, brought us electricity and the printing press, and more recently put an end to phone booths, black & white TVs, and luggage without wheels. Believe it or not, people used to have to carry their suitcases through airports.

Two Answers to Our Turnover Quiz

So here is quiz answer #1. The best way to cut turnover is to implement popular one-size fits-all programs. These might be based on engagement survey or exit survey outcomes, ideas drawn up by a retention committee, or identified in an article about retention best practices. The journey that results in these programs usually goes something like this:

Engagement survey results + the resulting employee engagement committee = recognition events.

Other examples include career ladders, town hall meetings, raising pay, or a introducing a shiny new benefit. The idea here is there is a thing, a something, that will keep every employee, and we can offer that thing better than any competing employer. If your answer to how you cut turnover is quiz answer #1, you are joining 99% of all employers who do the same thing. And if you consider that employee quits are at their all-time high, then maybe one-size-fits-all programs are not the correct answer.

Quiz answer #2 is driving retention through each leader by helping those leaders build one-on-one trust with each of their employees. This is the science-based answer and is supported by over 25 studies that tell us this:

• The number one reason why employees stay or leave is based on how much they trust their immediate supervisors.

• This does not mean that each time an employee quits that they didn’t trust their immediate supervisor…although maybe that is indeed the reason why they quit.

• But it does mean your supervisors are your best solution to improve retention…if you can teach them to build trust with each member of their teams.

Space doesn’t permit my detailing 25 studies here but consider these two: Kenexa found employees’ opinions of their supervisors impacted their opinions of their pay, benefits, development, and advancement…and Gallup tells us a full 70% of each employee’s engagement is driven by her relationship with her boss.

Turnover Results Happen with Building Trust

Why, then, do so many companies persist to implement one-size-fits-all programs, see turnover continue to rise, and then search out the next greatest one-size-fits-all program? I think it’s because it’s easier and it’s all that they know.

“The Great Resignation” was born in April, 2021. Here are examples of clients where we’ve cut turnover by 20% and more since then by driving retention through first-line leaders:

• For a major healthcare system, reduced turnover 22% and saved $2.8 million.
• Also reduced turnover 22% for a food processing company, saving them $2.3 million.
• And saved a trash collection company $240,000 by cutting turnover 30% in one location, and we expanded with our train-the-trainer approach.

Consider the industries represented here…healthcare, food processing, and trash collection. These are the very employees who are revolting as part of “The Great Resignation”, leaving their jobs for more money or to not work at all. And what is the top reason many more employees in these companies are staying? Because we’ve implemented our solutions to help their direct supervisors build trust with each member of their teams.

Cut Turnover 20% or More, Even During The Great Resignation
Schedule a conversation with me at DFinnegan@C-SuiteAnalytics.com to discuss your employee retention roadblocks and I’ll share ideas for how you can move forward and what is working for other companies to cut turnover by 20% and more, even during The Great Resignation that may benefit you.