How Your HR Department Can Recover from Unexpectedly High Turnover

By Jezabel Southard

Posted on October 13, 2017

Turnover happens at every company.

When your turnover rates suddenly spike, however, HR staff may react with alarm.

What’s happening? How can you prevent this unexpectedly high rate of turnover from becoming a chronic problem within your company?

How to reduce turnover:

Use exit interviews to help you understand the problem.

Exit interviews can help you learn why employees are leaving the company. To avoid wasting time with pleasantries that don’t answer your questions, however, it’s important to phrase your inquiries effectively.

For instance, instead of asking, “Why are you leaving?” consider asking, “What made you start looking for a new job?” The first question provides an “out” that can result in the employee talking about their new job, rather than their old one; the second question focuses on the company and its current situation.

Talk to the staff who are staying.

In addition to talking to departing staff, talk to those who are staying. A questionnaire can help you pinpoint problems with the company’s processes or culture that may be encouraging staff to jump ship. It can also help you see what factors of your company culture are encouraging staff to stay. These features can in turn serve as cornerstones for building your employment brand and selling your company culture to new candidates.

Build this information into your candidate search.

Both positive and negative feedback from exit interviews and your remaining staff can help you build a candidate experience that identifies the most promising potential staff members and reduce turnover. Here’s how to use the information you gather:

• Express your company culture. Top candidates aren’t just looking for a job; they’re looking for a workplace where they feel as if they “fit.” By expressing your company culture in job postings and other materials, you attract candidates who find that your culture resonates with them, which can reduce turnover.
• Make concrete changes to your hiring process. Changing interview questions, focusing on different attributes, and similar changes can help you find candidates who are less likely to leave in the short term.
• Share with your recruiter. Communicate what you’ve learned with your staffing firm. Your staffing partner can help you strategize ways to reduce turnover, improve engagement and find staff who will boost your team’s productivity.

How TERRA Can Help You

At TERRA Staffing, our recruiters can help you address sudden turnover in a productive manner that finds the people you need and targets the root cause of retention issues.

Find one our branches today to learn more about our recruiting services.

Categories: Employee Engagement Ideas, HR and Management Advice

Tags: Employee Turnover, How to Reduce Turnover, Overcoming High Turnover

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