How Leadership Can Reduce Turnover

Employee turnover is something that every business with workers experiences. Employees will come and go. When employees leave, it’s costly for your business and significantly affects your bottom line. It also takes time and money to find and train a replacement. Therefore, it’s best for you to reduce turnover as much as possible.

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, most issues that repeatedly occurred in my center, traced back to me not putting good processes in place and setting clear expectations. If you’re struggling with turnover at your company, take a few minutes to do a bit of self-reflection. Odds are you need to focus on one or more of these seven areas:

1. Create a positive culture.
Keeping employees starts with hiring the employees who align with the company mission, vision and values. You likely hire employees who have strong skills that match your open position. The reality is that an outstanding candidate who doesn’t match the behaviors and culture of your business won’t stay around long. Hire for soft skills. These includes personal attributes which enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with others. Find these people and you can teach them the rest!

Culture self-audits. It weeds out those who don’t fit the culture you’ve created and attracts those who do. Your culture is the baseline for your company because it cultivates an environment for success. Make sure you’re actively working to create the environment you say you want to develop.

Self-Reflection: Is the current culture in your center able to attract and retain the candidates you desire?

2. Care for your team members.
Your employees have hopes and dreams for their lives, as well as day-to-day disappointments and struggles. It’s easy to get so focused on your company that you forget about the people who really make your business happen. Find ways to care for your team members, and they will care for you and your business.

Be their boss, not their friend. If you create close personal ties with your subordinates, you will struggle as a manager. Effective leaders inspire employees and create a trusting and friendly work environment, but they are not creating friendships.

Self-Reflection: Are you too much of a tyrant or everybody’s best friend? How can you strike a healthy balance between the two?

3. Steer the ship.
As an entrepreneur, you have a vision for what you want to create within your pet care center. Allowing actions that exist beyond this may have negative consequences that are difficult to undo. Your company and the employees who help run it become a mix of what you create and what you allow — and what you allow can be stronger than what you create. As your company grows and adds more employees, you will need to monitor how much you allow them to deviate from your vision.

Self-Reflection: Are you enforcing the policies and procedures you created, or are you allowing others to steer the ship?

4. Give Praise
Your employees need encouragement and recognition. When employees do something right, show your appreciation. Don’t feel like you must shower employees with praise for everything they do. You don’t have to praise employees for small, everyday tasks. However, when employees truly do something worth congratulations, give it. The goal is to create an encouraging, positive work environment. When employees feel respected and acknowledged, they are more likely to stay.

Self-Reflection: When was the last time you provided praise to each person on your team?

5. Support your employees.
Are you giving your employees what they need to succeed? Proper equipment, training and a detailed job description are the minimum. Provide your staff with the necessary tools and clearly define short and long-term company goals. If you can’t, at least give them the courtesy of letting them know why those resources aren’t available now. This takes the frustration and guesswork off your employees’ minds. If you want your staff members to stay for years, serve and support them.

Self-Reflection: Is your equipment in good working order? Do you have formal training procedures in place? When is the last time you updated your job descriptions?

6. Pay your workers.
Money matters to your employees. They have responsibilities at home and their own aspirations and goals. When they perform, pay them well — and increase wages as your business succeeds. You may need to pay a bit more than the industry standard to keep top talent. Your team is your company’s most valuable asset. You’re better off paying higher wages than losing trained individuals who already understand your company.

Self-Reflection: Are your wages competitive? Are you rewarding high performers with pay increases?

7. Show the Career Path
If employees stay stagnate in one job for too long, they might search for another company where they can advance. Most employees want to increase their skills and knowledge in order to progress. Laying out a projected career path gives them a sense of direction and purpose.

Self-Reflection: Is your employee path clearly defined? Have you discussed a long-term plan with your high performers and leaders?

If you have high employee turnover, it’s in your best interest to do a bit of self-reflection. This exercise will help determine the changes you’ll need to make to reduce it.