Preventing Turnover

If a business wants to ensure that employees remain with the business, it has to:

1. Identify the positive aspects of the business that make employees want to stay.
2. Emphasize those aspects.

Internal factors. Some internal factors that may influence your employees' desire to stay are:

• benefits
• pleasant working conditions
• opportunity for growth/advancement
• pay
• job security

Outside factors. In addition to the internal factors that make employees want to leave or stay, there are also outside factors that can influence your turnover. You can't do much about these factors, which include family responsibilities, financial obligations, marketability of their skills, and jobs offered by other companies. What you can do is try to make the job as desirable as possible, to minimize the chance that external factors will lure your workers away.

Offering perks. To minimize unwanted turnover, give employees perks that are perceived by them as benefits that "make or break" a job. Trade on your strong points. Job perks like flexible hours or better-than-average benefits might keep employees in a job that they would otherwise leave. Attempt to make work fulfilling and rewarding for your employees.

Using temporary or part-time workers. Sometimes the jobs that you have may not be particularly exciting or offer a great potential for growth, but they are still important and must be done. So how can you handle this sticky situation? Some possible options are to hire temporary employees, or to use part-time workers who are simply looking for a low-effort paycheck.