Reduce Employee Turnover
The first 90 Days

High Employee turnover will dramatically impact the bottom line of your company, especially in the first 90 days of a new employee starting.

Add up the cost of temp staff, severance packages, unemployment benefits, advertising, recruiting and lost productivity. You’ll see it can cost from150%- 250% of the total compensation for each employee turnover.

Here are 5 steps to reduce employee turnover.

1. Hire Top Talent.

   Take the time, effort, and money to hire the best employee you can afford.  Excellent employees add much greater value to the company than an average worker.In the hiring process, be transparent about who you are, how you act, what you do.  Surprises aren’t good.  It’s much better for your new hire to know he’s expected to be in phone contact 24/7 in advance, than after he takes the job. One of the major causes of turnover in the first 90 days is the job not being what the worker expected.

2. Orient Properly.

   Your employee retention tactics must be front and center. Have a smooth functioning on-boarding program. Make sure it is all-inclusive and tells new hires exactly what they need to know.

   • Review job descriptions and expectations the first day.
   • Make sure they know the service philosophy of the company and expected ethics.
   • Restate company rules and regulations—dress codes, professional standards, communication methods. Also explain health and other benefits and how to get them.
   • Go over schedules, overtime, safety and security procedures.
   • Review the company’s unique selling position and connect the dots so the worker knows how his work influences the company’s success.

   Make sure their work area is appropriately outfitted and they have the passwords and accesses needed to do their work.

   Consider assigning a buddy or mentor to coach them through the company culture.  They can share:

   • Who has the knowledge they need?
   • Who is the go-to person for each issue?
   • Who are the clients, vendors, and staff with whom they will interact?
   • Other essential connections and ways of doing things.

3. Invite Feedback.

   Typically periodic reviews give feedback to the new hire.  They may measure performance goals or see if the new person is meeting teamwork expectation. Make sure the communication is a two way street.  For the first weeks and months of employment, have an end of the day check-up.  What questions does the new employee have? They could be as simple as “Where do I mail the letter?” or “I’m having trouble with my computer, who can help me?”  Simple problems of the new hire slow his or her work, create tension, frustration, and may create poor feelings toward the company.To retain your new workers, nip these problems in the bud with an easy way to get questions answered and problems solved. In the periodic reviews, check to see how well the worker feels he or she is progressing. Do they think the orientation process was effective?  Are they feeling integrated into the company?  Are there any lingering questions?

4. Encourage Training.

   Training and developing employees is the key to early and ongoing employee success and satisfaction. Make sure your new employees get into the training classes they need to best function in their jobs. If training is by peer-mentoring, check frequently to make sure learning is taking place—both with the trainer and the trainee. Consider a formalized checklist so the new employee can quantify the learning and measure the progress.

5. Eliminate poor managers.

   One company had two sections that performed similar functions.  One had steady employees.  The other had 100% turnover each year. The difference?  The manager.  When dealing with poor managers, consider the savings that comes from either a remarkable retraining of them or their replacement. The most common reason employees leave a company is dissatisfaction with the boss or management.

Don’t spend all that money training a new hire, just to see them leave for your competition.  When you follow these five steps, you will be confident you can reduce turnover in the first 90 days and retain your valuable employees for years to come.

If you’re struggling with high turnover, contact Joel to help management learn skills and techniques to promote employee retention.