Prepare Your Organization for Unprecedented Turnover

As the pandemic subsides in 2021, there are predictions that this will be a year where companies will see unprecedented turnover. Companies may see as high as 20-25% turnover once recruitment efforts ramp back up. During the pandemic, employees stuck it out where they were, so there wasn’t the amount of turnover that would have naturally occurred in 2020 as employees opted for an increased sense of stability. Compounding the problem, this group of delayed job seekers will be looking to leave as the numbers of baby boomers set to retire pick up speed. These combined forces will create a lot of recruitment and hiring efforts needed within most organizations.
Organizations should begin taking steps to reduce turnover as much as possible and prepare themselves for the inevitable.
One of the most successful employee retention techniques to reduce turnover is to ensure each employee is an excellent match for their position. Job failure is often because the employee is not wired to succeed in that particular position. You can figure out how well a person is matched to their role by having the employee complete a hiring assessment, also known as an employment assessment. Even if you already have someone in a position, it isn’t too late to see how a person’s natural skills and hardwiring connect with the job their performing.
By finding out where there is alignment and where there are gaps, you can figure out the potential for turnover and use it as an opportunity to better align that employee’s skills with the organization’s needs. Improving alignment may mean giving them new or different projects or internally recruiting them into a different role within the organization where they might be a better fit. If you find through the assessment that an employee is highly aligned with their position, you can take proactive steps to help figure out their satisfaction with the organization and motivate them to stay with your company.
One way to measure their current satisfaction is to conduct stay interviews using external resources. Employees will not often reveal underlying issues impacting their satisfaction in a conversation with their managers, especially if they are the problem’s source. You will have greater trust with the employee and be more likely to have truthful and straightforward responses if the interviewer is external.
Your organization should also use this as an opportunity to create or reinforce exceptional company culture. Creating a great place to work will help your employee’s be more motivated to be loyal to your company.