Retention vs. Turnover: Why Do They Matter?

When creating a growth strategy for your business, you may want to consider the impact employee retention and turnover have on your organization. No matter your business’s growth stage, you can benefit from examining the employees you have retained and lost. By analyzing employee retention and turnover, you can create a strategy that increases productivity, employee satisfaction, and long-term business growth.

Wolf Creek Business Growth Institute has business coaches who will analyze your employee retention and turnover rates and craft an effective strategy to boost retention. Our coaches are experts in all business areas and will work with you to achieve your goals. Contact us today for an effective strategy that will bolster business.

[Related: Finding the Right Business Growth Strategy]

Retention vs. Turnover: What’s the Difference?

Before analyzing your retention and turnover rates, you should first be able to identify them and understand their different functions in your business.

Employee retention refers to an organization’s ability to keep employees.

Employee turnover is the number of people who leave a company, whether voluntary or not, usually during a specific time frame like a month, quarter, year, etc.

Retention vs. Turnover: Why is it Important?

Employee retention and turnover are two essential elements in your business that ensure your company performs to its highest ability and achieves its goals. If you have a high turnover rate, you or other employees spend time and resources interviewing candidates and training new hires instead of fulfilling your responsibilities.

Increasing retention positively impacts business performance and success by creating a stable working environment where employees can develop workplace relationships with one another. Higher retention rates will also improve customer satisfaction as you’ll have more experienced staff members who know how to deal with customers and help resolve their issues efficiently.

Retention and turnover are also important to identify employee performance. For example, if you have someone on staff who does not align with your core values or would fit better in another position in your company, don’t be afraid to address it and make changes. This realignment will help you reallocate your employees to more appropriate roles or influence a behavior change. It also shows your other employees that you don’t accept bad employee behavior. Remember, if poor attitude and work ethic are tolerated, your hard-working employees might be de-motivated, or it could lead to them considering a new job.

Retention vs. Turnover: Improve and Reduce

When looking at retention and turnover in your business, your first step should be to reevaluate your hiring process. Low retention and high turnover are significant indicators that there is something in your hiring process that isn’t working. Do your recruiting practices need refinement? Are you asking the best questions? Are there any flaws in your onboarding process that you can iron out?

A significant piece of your retention and turnover strategy is understanding why employees leave in the first place and how they view your company. The best way to do this is to conduct anonymous surveys or ask them to review your business through a job board that allows reviews, like Glassdoor. This information will give you substantial insight into how people view your company, which will provide you with an edge in crafting your retention and turnover strategy.

When you’ve gathered your necessary information, start focusing on developing a robust retention strategy. Everything in your strategy should aim to help increase retention and reduce turnover. Some examples of effective retention tactics include:

• Creating an environment for employee growth
• Building a culture of accountability and mutual respect
• Encouraging opportunities for employees to experiment

These examples are the best methods to retain employees because it shows a level of understanding and commitment to the person’s personal growth. People have their own goals and want to be recognized for their achievements, so your work environment should allow it. If a salesperson wants to try working on the production line and vice versa, they should have the opportunity to do so.

The best thing business owners can do to help retention and turnover reduction is to understand their employees as people and not a solution. Ask yourself; are you listening to your employees’ needs? Do they have what they need to perform better in their job? The rest will follow when you can identify the areas that need improvement.

[Related: How to Make Personal Accountability a Core Value]

Wolf Creek BGI Can Help Your Business Reduction Turnover and Retain Employees

Wolf Creek Business Growth Institute understands the importance of retaining your employees and reducing turnover. Our business coaches can help your business minimize turnover and retain employees, so you increase productivity, boost customer satisfaction, and achieve your long-term business goals. Call the experts at Wolf Creek BGI at 225-219-8866 to start an effective employee retention strategy today.