Dealing with staff turnover when employees roll the dice

More than a quarter of people in the workforce are considering a new role or a change of workplace, according to research reported by Forbes magazine. Even for those not actively seeking new employment, the chances of being offered alternative employment options are growing as numerous organizations increase their activity in headhunting new talent. Over the last 18 months recruiters have become voracious, offering significant salary increases and lucrative roles in the pursuit of the right people to fill their ranks.

It has been said that a sign of a high-performing team is that they attract the attention of your competitors, but that is cold comfort when your top talent is starting to look at what they consider to be greener pastures. How do you go about keeping good people in a market full of opportunity? Should businesses instead mitigate the potential losses and accept their fate?

Know when to hold onto staff

Retaining staff can be a challenge and oftentimes businesses resort to simply throwing money at the problem. While a salary increase will rarely be rejected, CIO.com suggests top performers jump ship to advance their career, not their savings account.

Having opportunities to grow and develop new skills or gain more responsibilities gives your team something to reach for, along with a sense of belonging. That investment can be built through good training programs that provide clear paths to new opportunities. Setting up processes to validate and assess outside training resources will also ensure people know what they can pursue, and what will support their journey within the organization.

The same article refers to a 2021 Gallup survey which found that a “noticeable amount of the workforce” is disengaged. Rolling Stone identified a shared passion through a strong corporate culture as one of the ways businesses could hold onto talent. This shared passion needs to be communicated every day, not just at the annual shareholder meeting and in CEO reports.

Make sure your practices and processes reflect the values you claim to stand for. By weaving them into the day-to-day activities you are putting in front of your staff, you can be sure your teams understand and buy into the why of your organization, not just the what. Give them a voice through effective feedback channels and allow your frontline people to contribute to the operations they are a part of and they will invest themselves in it without having to be asked twice.

Know when to accept staff departures

One of the greatest challenges for managers and leaders is seeing good people go. Often it is considered a failure, a rejection that can feel quite personal, although it does not have to be that way.

If staff are leaving, consider what they are leaving for. More money, a new environment, fresh challenges or a change of lifestyle are all valid motivations, and you will not always be able to counter them. In fact, sometimes you should not even try to.

If you have built a culture that values people and wants to see them achieve their best, then sometimes that will mean letting them go to pursue their next goal. It is not a threat to your management or business, but a reason to celebrate their next steps. When people see you cheering on alumni that are growing in new ways, it reinforces that you are on their side and want the best for them. That is an encouraging atmosphere to be part of and they will be more inclined to want to remain in it.

For those who do move on, make sure their legacy is protected. In an interview with the HR Daily Advisor, Ari Bixhorn, vice president of marketing at Panopto pointed out that over 40 per cent of the knowledge required for any role is usually held by the incumbent. That means that if they leave, nearly half the expertise for that position leaves with them.

It is vital to capture that knowledge in good processes and clear documentation before it is lost for good and trying to do so in an employee’s last week is probably not going to work. Make process capture and improvement part of the everyday workflow, so if and when your superstars decide they need to consider a new role, the person that follows has the benefit of their accumulated wisdom at their fingertips.

Staff turnover does not have to be a gamble

Career changes are commonplace in today’s workforce and having staff decide to move on is always going to happen. With the world still in flux and workplaces wrestling with the new normal that seems to be a much more volatile prospect, but it does not have to cause concern. Make sure your organization is somewhere people will want to do their best work and ensure they know that you want them to succeed.

If and when they do decide they need to move on, build upon what they have achieved and give newcomers a sound foundation so they can hit the road running. With the right approach, even when they are gone, you will be stronger for having had them in your team.