Attracting quality employees is absolutely critical; however, retaining top performers is equally important. High turnover rates have a direct and negative impact on your business’s profitability. With convenience store and grocery store annual turnover rates averaging 70% to 120% at an estimated cost of $3,000-$4,000 per employee, the hit to the bottom-line from costs incurred due to turnover can be the difference between a business surviving and thriving. Some of the avoidable hard and soft costs associated with employee turnover are:
- Reduced productivity
- Overworked remaining staff
- Low morale
- Lost knowledge and experience
- Overtime to cover vacant position
- Recruiting and advertising expenses
- Labor to onboard new hires or retrain current staff
Avoiding turnover can be challenging. Employ these strategies to keep current employees happy, productive and invested in your success as well as their own.
- Tools & Training – Provide team members with the proper tools to perform their duties, and follow a consistent training process to ensure that the team is set up for success.
- Benefits and Rewards – Undoubtedly wages are important; however, rewarding valued employees improves morale and retention. Performance incentives are a tangible way to show employees that they are valued. Offer benefits such as paid lunch hour, paid lunch, free shirt or hat, gift card, thank you note, or extra breaks. The little things do matter.
- Inclusion and Recognition – Employees want to be respected and included, know that their work matters and they want to be recognized for their contributions. Involve employees in planning, goal setting and process improvements to help them understand the big picture and where they fit into it.
- Team Transparency – Conduct a daily and/or weekly meeting to review the department and company goals and objectives for the day/week. Allow the team to add value and provide input. You will quickly realize unidentified talents of your workforce, create solutions to problems you may not even have known existed, and improve employee morale.
- Employee Empowerment –Tell your employees that their feedback and decisions matter and that they can grow with you as they help the company grow, then follow through.
- Career Growth Opportunity – Offer clear career development paths for employees to follow. Employees who have the opportunity to enhance their skills and see their growth lead to new opportunities are more likely to stay.
All employees are incredibly valuable and have a significant impact on business growth. Taking care of your team is not only the right thing to do, it makes business sense!
