In the trade service industry, contractor turnover has become a major problem. In April 2021 in the construction industry, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 4.7% of employees left their jobs (either voluntarily or involuntarily). That’s over the national average of 4%. And sadly, there just isn’t enough new blood coming in to fill these spots — the hiring rate was only 4.5%.
As a business owner, it’s your job to ensure your business doesn’t fall into this trap. By learning how to stop employee turnover, you can keep your business thriving without the hassle of constantly training new people.
What’s the Harm in Employee Turnover?
You probably already know how employee turnover affects your business. You have to spend precious man hours training new people, not to mention the cost of new uniforms, equipment and more. All in all, experts estimate that replacing an employee adds up to about one-third of a new hire’s salary.
Obviously, this is money you could be spending elsewhere. Now, it’s impossible to bring employee turnover down to zero — people do need to retire at some point. But by using the below tips, you can work on minimizing employee turnover so it’s not detrimental to your company.
4 Tips on How to Make Employee Turnover a Thing of the Past
1. Offer Competitive Wages and Benefits
It’s important to make sure that your offering meets or exceeds the industry standard. If you hire a new technician, and they find out that your competitor across town pays double what you’re paying them, they’ll be out the door before you can blink. And who can blame them? By making sure your wages are competitive, your employees will feel valued, and they won’t be as tempted by outside offers.
2. Curate a Good Company Culture
Even if you don’t realize it, your company has a culture. Each person you’ve hired contributes to that workplace culture in their own unique way, so before you hire someone new, it’s a good idea to try and define your culture. Are you a fun, laid-back workplace? Do you prefer to keep things more serious? Both can be effective, but they can drastically change the type of people you hire.
Once you’ve thought about your company culture (try asking your current employees how they’d describe it!), you’ll have all the information you’ll need to vet each potential applicant, and see if they’ll fit in. At the interview, ask them the same questions you asked your employees and see if they have similar answers.
3. Offer Praise for a Job Well Done
Everyone wants to feel like they are doing a good job! So when your employees perform well, make sure they know about it. Studies have shown that up to 20% of employees said they’d leave a job because of lack of recognition.
There are tons of ways you can do this. Maybe you could have a weekly pump-up meeting where you acknowledge everyone’s accomplishments for the week. You could even have an incentive or award for top-performing workers! Whatever it is you decide to do, just make sure you’re giving your employees the encouragement they need.
4. Provide Opportunities for Growth
No one likes getting stuck in a dead-end job. If your employees get the feeling that they’ll never get a promotion or have the opportunity to rise through the ranks, of course they’ll leave for green pastures.
It may not be possible to promote everyone to manager, but getting a new job title isn’t the only form of growth. You can provide professional development opportunities, such as training and education, that will help them broaden their horizons and become more valuable employees overall.
When it comes time for employee reviews, check out our employee review template so you won’t have to start from scratch!
Don’t Let Turnover Bring Your Business Down
Managing employee turnover isn’t a simple one-and-done thing. You’ll need to offer competitive wages to keep people around. Maintaining your company culture is also important, especially when bringing on new people. And always make sure you’re showing your gratitude for your workers, especially if they’re performing excellently on the job. Finally, by providing opportunities for growth, employees will love heading into work every day because they’ll get to learn something new and open themselves up to opportunities for promotions.
One final tip on how to minimize employee turnover? Consider upgrading to a business management app like FieldPulse. A clean, centralized management software will make both you and your employees’ lives so much easier thanks to all the functionalities, shortcuts, and integrations. You’ll be able to store client information, create invoices on the fly, schedule jobs with ease and more, all while keeping everyone on the same page. With FieldPulse, you can spend less time worrying about your employees’ efficiency, and more time helping your customers.
Ready to learn more? Schedule your free demo today.
