People Will Come and Go

It’s a fact, people will come and go in your business. Some will stay a long time and others seem to be gone before you know it. All companies experience turnover – a change of employees.

The question becomes, is it too much or too litlle? I know you are thinking “too little, no such thing”. I get it, in an ideal world your people would never leave, do a great job and there would be no more worries.

Here’s what “too little” can mean to your organization.

• Everyone gets into a routine, no improvement
• No new ideas, intiatives or innovation
• People get comfortable
• No room for growth
• People can’t get promoted

Think about what this can do to your bottom line? How does this affect your customers? Do you still have customer service? Will you clients stay with you? What happens without innovation?  Of course the impact of each of these depends on your business and what your customers needs from you and your team.

One way to ensure people stay without getting stagnant is through growth. Growth can come from new clients, new challenges and growth in number of people on your team. This way while no one is leaving, you are still getting new “blood” when you increase your team.

What is a reasonable amount of turnover? My experience has shown 10-12% is good and is the least disruptive. This is on an annual basis. So if you have 10 employees, one person changing a year is manageable. One outside/new opinion each year can also help highlight areas of improvement, change or innovation. They can get the conversation started.

At the other extreme is too much turnover.  Some industries are susceptible to this (hospitality, restaurant, seasonal work, etc.) And while it is the nature of the beast it doesn’t have to be outrageous either. If you are experiencing over 50% turnover, you need to start looking at the “why are they leaving”. The easiest way to do to this is to start keeping track of the reason people give you for leaving and notice if there is a pattern.  If there is a pattern, work on correcting.

Need assistance with evaluating why people are leaving? We can assist you in determining why you have turnover and plan to correct.  Contact us at either 773.531.8199 or [email protected].