Control Staff Turnover

Control staff turnover

Table of contents

Control staff turnover 2
Introduction 2
Factors affecting staff turnover 2
Monitoring staff turnover 3
The cost of staff turnover 4
Managing staff turnover 5
Developing and maintaining skills 5
Checklist: controlling staff turnover 6
Here's how improving procedures helped us
manage staff turnover 6
Helplines 8
Related guides on businesslink.gov.uk 8
Related web sites you might find useful 8

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Subjects covered in this guide
Introduction
Introduction
When staff leave, this turnover can have a
Factors affecting staff turnover negative impact on your business. This is
especially the case if those leaving either
Monitoring staff turnover are key to its success and continuity or do
so because they think you have treated
The cost of staff turnover them unfairly, which could result in tribunal
claims.
Managing staff turnover

Developing and maintaining skills Therefore, retaining staff and treating them
fairly has benefits for your business.
Checklist: controlling staff turnover Continuity and stability become part of your
business' culture, and staff feel they belong
Here's how improving procedures helped us to the organisation and take pride in their
manage staff turnover work. Skills and competencies are
maintained in key business areas and
Helplines productivity is often increased.

Related guides on businesslink.gov.uk Staff turnover is a business risk, but you can
Related web sites you might find useful minimise the ways in which it affects your
business through a structured staff
management programme.

This guide will help you manage staff
You can find this guide by navigating to: turnover by providing examples of what
makes staff leave and a checklist of
Home > Employing people > Motivation > measures to help staff retention. There is
Control staff turnover also guidance on how to measure and
benchmark turnover and how to improve the
management of leavers.

Factors affecting staff turnover
Pay is rarely the only reason why people
leave, although low pay levels are often a
disincentive to stay. When you run a
business it is good to be aware of factors
that commonly affect staff turnover rates, so
that you can take steps to reduce them.

Consider how your business scores in the
following areas.



common goals and discourage
Recruitment and induction
unhealthy individual rivalries?
• Making the right choice - are you
getting the staff selection process Contracts, pay and working environment
right? Do you encourage staff to
recommend friends and • Contracts - do the terms and
acquaintances for job vacancies? conditions of your contracts
• Induction - how do you welcome encourage staff loyalty?
and orientate new staff? How do you • Competitive pay rates and a fair,
let them know where things are and transparent pay system - are they
what they and their colleagues are in line with your industry?
supposed to do? See our guide on • Incentives and other staff benefits -
getting new workers started. are they relevant for your staff? Can
• Flexible working arrangements - staff choose the ones they need?
do you recognise your employees' • The office environment - is the
changing needs to achieve work-life physical office environment pleasant
balance? Use our interactive tool and well designed? Are noise, light
to investigate what kind of flexible and ventilation levels acceptable?
working will best suit your
employees and you.
Monitoring staff turnover
Training and staff development
Regular monitoring of staff turnover can
• Motivation - how supportive and
show you why it is happening, and enable
encouraging is your business?
you to control and forecast it.
• Organisational culture - what are
you doing to promote an inclusive
culture in which staff are aware of Measuring and benchmarking turnover
and committed to the business' Your current staff turnover should be
aims? measured in percentage terms and should
• Matching jobs to people - are you follow this simple two step process:
making the best use of skills,
experience and competencies, and
helping staff fulfil their aspirations? 1. Add together the number of staff
• Staff training and development - working at the beginning of the time
are you investing in your staff by period and the number of staff
giving them time and opportunities to working at the end of the period and
learn new skills? divide by two. This will give you your
• Formal appraisals - how often do average number of staff working
you give your staff the opportunity to within this time period - you will need
discuss their performance? this number for the next stage.
• Effective grievance procedure - do 2. Work out the number of leavers over
staff know how to register a the time period, multiply by 100 and
grievance and are they making use then divide by the average number of
of the procedure? people working in that same period.
• Team working - do you encourage



This formula will give you a percentage rate staff leaving. The obvious ones are time and
for your business that you can compare over money but there are also hidden costs as
time. You can also use this indicator to see well.
how your business compares with averages
in your industry. This is known as The monetary and time costs of staff
benchmarking. turnover

Examining the causes of turnover When a member of staff leaves, there may
be costs associated with:
To make a meaningful assessment of your
current business' position, try to identify the
• leaver administration tasks, eg exit
causes of turnover:
interviews and payroll changes
• covering a vacancy until it's filled, eg
• It is often effective to have through the use of temporary staff or
consultations with individuals or overtime payments
groups of staff to root out any • advertising for a replacement or
underlying problems and causes of using a recruitment agency
dissatisfaction. • dealing with recruitment and
• Exit interviews are carried out by selection tasks, eg checking
many businesses and can reveal applications, and organising and
common reasons for people leaving, attending interviews
and highlight any emerging patterns. • the induction and training of the
See our guide on when an successful applicant
employee resigns.
• Surveys of all staff can often The hidden costs of staff turnover
indicate general satisfaction levels
but remember to address any issues When a member of staff leaves, you may
arising so that they know you take experience:
their views seriously.
• Analyse your recruitment and • other staff expressing a wish to leave
selection procedures to see if you • higher levels of stress-related
can identify expectations or potential absence
problems earlier - alternatively you • interruptions to workflow and missed
may need to make the business' deadlines
expectations clearer at the • a reduction in productivity or levels of
recruitment stage. customer service
• a drop in staff morale, particularly if
Get guidance on staff turnover and the leaver was popular and good at
absence on the Acas website - Opens in their job, and/or you need the
a new window. remaining staff to take on their work
in their absence

The cost of staff turnover Rising employee turnover often develops
into a 'vicious circle' as low morale causes
There are a number of costs associated with
more workers to leave, which in turn



reduces the morale of those who remain, You may want to consider different
and so on. incentives for retaining those staff with the
key skills and attributes important to your
business. These may include:
Managing staff turnover
• individual or team productivity
Reducing staff turnover helps to minimise bonuses
the costs and negative impact of unwanted • performance-related pay
and unplanned resignations. You can help • non-financial incentives, eg
limit turnover via staff consultation, healthcare provision, flexible working
succession planning, performance • attractive pension arrangements
management and staff incentivisation.

Consulting staff and succession See our guide on how to implement staff
incentive schemes.
planning
You can be proactive about some things
and prepared for others. Consider the Developing and maintaining skills
following measures:
There is a strong business case for
developing your staff as it will help ensure
• employee consultation - consult that your business runs smoothly and with
regularly with staff about general consistently good results. You should also
morale and how satisfied they are be able to reduce staff turnover by training
with their work and working your leaders to motivate staff.
conditions - see our guide on how to
inform and consult your
Training and development
employees
• succession planning - put together While helping staff develop their existing
and regularly review your plans for skills and learn new ones can cost your
covering and replacing leavers, and business time and money, training and
training and inducting new starters - development is crucial to improving your
see our guide on getting new business' performance and can actually help
workers started prevent excessive turnover.

Managing performance This is especially the case if your staff see
People are likely to want to work for you if that what they are learning is relevant to
your business has a reputation for treating them and the business, and they can readily
staff fairly and provides support, put their new knowledge into practice.
development and motivation. Ensure your
staff receive regular feedback on their It's important that your training and
performance - see our guide on how to use development policy is fair and clearly
appraisals to manage performance. understood by your staff as early as
possible in their employment. If they know
Incentivising key staff that you will spend time training and



developing them, they are more likely to leavers if you understand why people leave,
continue working for you. See our guide on and if you structure a programme to manage
how to set up employment policies for staff effectively from the time they are
your business. recruited. Make sure you:

Training and development can be delivered • keep records of leavers
by experienced workers through on-the-job • find out why people leave through
training or from external sources such as exit interviews and consultation
training organisations or consultants. See • monitor your rate of turnover at
our guide on how to fit the training to your regular intervals
needs. • benchmark your staff turnover
• address issues facing new joiners
Leadership and people management and long-term workers
• analyse your business culture
The culture in your business can influence • refine your recruitment and
retention of staff, and is often defined selection process
through leadership. You can foster • review and benchmark your pay and
leadership skills in your staff that will benefits policy
promote a culture they want to belong to. • assess your training, development
and promotion policy
People who feel good about their • refine your appraisal process and
development and contribution to the management of individual/team
business are likely to reflect this in the way performance
they help drive the business forward, and • review your work-life balance
develop other workers. arrangements - are your workers
able to manage both their home and
work commitments?
Finally, remember that good people • assess the management style of
management helps keep good staff. A poor your business
relationship with a manager - who may be • formulate contingency plans for
skilled in other areas - is one of the main coping with leavers
reasons why workers decide to leave. • create and regularly review
Therefore, you may want to train your succession plans
managers to coach and supervise other • examine your staff and your
people. managers' leadership styles

Checklist: controlling staff turnover Here's how improving procedures
Staff turnover can help introduce fresh ideas helped us manage staff turnover
and skills into your business, but too high a
level of turnover can damage its Sue Shuttleworth
performance. Shuttleworth Veterinary Group - Opens in
a new window
You will be better prepared for dealing with
Sue's top tips:



• "Monitor staff turnover, but don't procedures needed to be formalised and
panic every time someone leaves - a there were gaps to be filled. We began with
certain level of turnover is normal a staff questionnaire, which we've continued
and healthy." to issue every six months. This helped us to
• "Invest in a structured training and identify areas where we could be doing
development programme." more to retain staff.
• "Involve everyone in your vision for
the company." "Among other measures taken, we
introduced weekly staff meetings and a
Shuttleworth Veterinary Group has been monthly newsletter, implemented a rolling
established in Rossendale, Lancashire for training programme and began conducting
over 20 years. Two years ago, practice formal exit interviews. We also refined our
owner Sue Shuttleworth piloted the recruitment process to ensure a better 'fit'
Investors in People (IiP) Work-life Balance among candidates. After all, one of the keys
Model (WLB), resulting in overhauled to managing staff turnover is to employ the
procedures and a revised management right people in the first place."
style. One of the benefits has been
improved motivation and retention among Involve staff
the practice's 20 employees.
"Consulting and informing staff about new
What I did procedures has made them feel part of the
business in a way they didn't before. We've
also trained line managers to communicate
See the big picture policy and procedural changes so the right
"High staff turnover can be a feature of messages filter down from the top and
many veterinary practices and ours was no everyone feels involved.
exception. There's no single thing that
makes staff stay or go, you have to look at "Overall, there has been a change in the
the bigger picture and go through the company culture, with greater emphasis on
business from the top down. That's what IiP team working and a no-blame philosophy
and WLB made us do. that's encouraged a more proactive
approach to problem solving. We've found
"We started by involving the team in that trusting people and giving them control
redefining the mission and vision for the over their work can be a powerful motivator
business, which included a strong emphasis and reason to stay."
on improving work-life balance - a big issue
in our profession, as the hours can be What I'd do differently
unsociable. We then evaluated our current
procedures in areas like recruitment, exit Seek input sooner
interviews, training and team working."
"We've spent a lot of time communicating
Implement new procedures our mission and values to staff at all levels,
but I wish we'd sought their input right from
"We recognised that although we were the beginning."
already doing many of the right things,



Be patient
Related web sites you might find
"We didn't realise how long it takes to truly
change a company's culture and useful
management style. It took around 18 Managing attendance and employee
months before we saw the maximum benefit turnover guidance on the Acas website -
from the policies and procedures we'd put in Opens in a new window
place."
Staff motivation online courses on the
Helplines learndirect business website - Opens in a
new window
Acas Helpline
08457 47 47 47 Employee retention and turnover on the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development website - Opens in a new
window
Related guides on
businesslink.gov.uk Managing attendance and employee
turnover guidance on the Acas website -
Use our interactive tool to investigate Opens in a new window
what kind of flexible working will best
suit your employees and you | Getting Leadership online course on the
new workers started | Set the right pay learndirect website - Opens in a new
rates | The employment contract | window
Flexible working - the law and best
practice | Meet the need for work-life
balance | Implement staff incentive
schemes | Fit the training to your needs |
Use appraisals to manage performance |
Recruiting and interviewing | Workers
leaving: the basics | When an employee
resigns | Inform and consult your
employees | Manage absence and
sickness | How to deal with stress | Set
up employment policies for your
business | Improve the performance of
your staff | Skills and training for
directors and owners | Develop your
management team | Evaluate your
training | Here's how asking employees
for ideas improved our business | Here's
how a staff incentive scheme improved
our business |


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