Common Causes of Employee Turnover and How to Fix It

Employee turnover can hurt your company in two different, but equally powerful ways. First, having a high employee turnover rate can harm your company’s reputation and make it difficult to attract new employees. Second, employee turnover is expensive, and for every employee who decides to hit the road, you will need to spend time and money to find a reasonable replacement.

As a business owner or manager, you have a right to be concerned about a high turnover rate, but fortunately, the more you understand about employee turnover, the easier it will be to prevent it. Before you despair and decide to scream at your human resources department, read about some of the most common causes of employee turnover below.

Toxic Work Environment

This may be a bit obvious, but in reality, rudeness and a lack of manners can run even the most dedicated employee out the door. Disrespecting, blaming, and publicly degrading employees is a recipe for disaster, and all managers and supervisors should avoid such behavior at all costs.

Let’s face it – no one wants to work in a war zone where they feel threatened or mistreated, and if you want to your employees to remain loyal, you should avoid the following behaviors like the plague:

• Playing favorites
• Participating in workplace drama and gossip
• Promoting unhealthy competition
• Retaliating or seeking revenge for alleged “wrongdoings”
• Treating your workers as “workers” instead of humans

Not only are the behaviors listed above immature and unprofessional, but they can expensive as well when all your employees decide they’ve had enough and you have to spend money to find and train replacements.

Micromanaging

Do you let your employees do the job you hired them to do? Most hiring managers want to answer yes, but in reality, micromanagement is still a serious issue in the workplace. No one wants to work with someone else standing over their shoulder and critiquing every single “mistake” they make for eight hours a day. Not only is this behavior annoying, but it is condescending, and workers can easily tell when you don’t trust them or believe in their capabilities. If you are a “helicopter manager,” you are probably inadvertently driving up your company’s turnover rate.

Unhealthy Work-Life Balance

If you genuinely want to reduce employee turnover, you must understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance. In the past, this wasn’t really a priority for companies, and many employees understood they would have to sacrifice their personal lives for work sometimes. However, as a newer generation more focused on a having a healthy work-life balance takes over, this is a greater concern for employees.

Simply put, no one wants to work a job that prevents them from enjoying their personal life and spending time with loved ones. By encouraging your employees to strike a healthy balance between work and their personal life, you can stop turnover before it becomes a major problem.

No Advancement Opportunities

No one wants to work in a dead-end job. This is a fact that virtually everyone is aware of, and when your employees do not feel they have access to adequate advancement or professional development opportunities, they may feel compelled to quit.

You can prevent this by offering and encouraging professional development and continual education in the workplace. When there are open positions, consider filling them with your current employees before hiring outsiders. Taking these simple steps can go a very long way.

Poor Training and Guidance

When an employee is hired, their confidence can easily be shaken if they aren’t given the training tools and guidance they need to succeed. Unfortunately, many companies simply throw their employees to the wolves after the hiring process is complete, failing to check on them or provide adequate coaching. Working in a job you do not feel comfortable with can be remarkably stressful, and successful companies make a habit of ensuring all their employees receive the support and guidance they need to work independently.

Lack of Faith in Company Decisions

Most companies have a hierarchy, and those are the top are often trusted to make the most impactful and pressing decisions. This usually isn’t a problem, as long as the decisions seem rational and benefit everyone in the company.

Sadly, this doesn’t always happen, and if your employees don’t feel comfortable with your decisions, they will be more likely to leave. As a business owner or manager, you can prevent this from happening by entertaining multiple viewpoints and taking the wellbeing of the entire company into consideration before you make a serious decision.

Actual Job Differs Greatly From Advertised Job

Sometimes, jobs just don’t live up to our expectations. This is normal, but if your employees routinely notice a difference between the way a job is advertised and the actual job, you may have a problem. Always be upfront and honest about the functions, salary, and expectations associated with a particular job when hiring – this will prevent confusion and dissatisfaction later on.

Employees Don’t Feel Appreciated

While you don’t have to give your employees a pat on the back every time they do something well, if they feel their hard work isn’t being recognized they may feel compelled to quit. Establishing an employee recognition program not only encourages them to work harder, but makes them feel like their work is being appreciated.