If your employee turnover rate is sky high lately, you may be wondering: “How to reduce employee turnover?”

Well, let’s be realistic:

You really can’t do much about it, but what you could do is master the psychological element of it!

We are dealing with human beings here, pretty much like ourselves and they deserved to be treated like ourselves. All the tricks and “kindergarten” approach could work for a while, but only with a younger crowd and definitely not with professionals.

Employee experience

According to Deloitte Insights’ study, ONE of the biggest challenges that need improvement is something called the “employee experience.” Similar to “customer experience” this is something that gets overlooked very often.

But it is very important how your employees feel since it has a great effect on the way they deal with your clients and how they do their job. Are they patient? Are they cranky?

It’s up to you to find out and guide them in the right direction before they scare away all your clients from your business or restaurant. Bad relationships happen, and people will outgrow your business and need to move on.

We need to understand and respect that. If your employee moves on and gets a better-paying job, there is nothing wrong with that and they deserve a warm “congratulations” from your side.

Why?

If you retain good relationships with the best employees that left you, if they ever have a problem with their current employer, you will be the first one on their list, regardless of pay.

So, how do you keep your employees from leaving?

1. Make sure your employees like their job in the first place! 

Before worrying about them leaving, you have to consider how they feel about their jobs. Take note of how much they like what they do and why they took the position in the first place.

Before you employ them, ask how long they intend to stay. Sometimes people just take on jobs to meet a certain need and once they have accomplished that, they leave.

Knowing how your employees feel about their jobs will give you clues to what to do with this particular employee. When a person is displaying total negativity in the workplace, he/she might be a good candidate to let go.

On the flip side, people that really enjoy their work will be highly creative and willing to help others.

2. Make sure your employees are fairly compensated

To keep your employees on the job actively and consistently, you have to make sure their payments are equal to the work they are supposed to do.

Keep yourself up to date on what is fair compensation in your neighborhood, if possible, find out your competitor’s payouts.

Employees must receive their paychecks in a timely manner, without any holdbacks. More importantly, you should always compensate them for any extra shifts they pull or for additional work they do.

If they sustain any harm or come across any problems to themselves because of your orders, you should make sure to compensate them for it.

3. Give an extraordinary reason to stay, that your competition can not match

While other establishments may offer higher paychecks, you can still keep your employees by offering them something other than money.

Make an offer they can’t resist. You could offer them lower rates when they bring people to your shop, or you could give their family discounts.

Be creative, think of simple but very well-appreciated offers that they won’t be able to resist and that your competition can’t keep up with.

4. Give clear instructions on what needs to be done

When giving your employees a job or two to do, make sure they understand exactly what you are asking of them. Try to make them understand what you want by explaining extensively.

Give them key points in your orders for them to complete. If they are going to complete a large number of tasks, make sure they keep some sort of to-do list.

Don’t leave them until you are sure they understand perfectly what it is that you want to be done.

5. Do not overwork people and ask them to do more than they can handle

You are not dealing with robots, but human beings, that can only handle so much. Of course, some people can handle more tasks and stress than others, but you have to make sure that you know people’s limits.

We have limits, they have limits and if we push people to go over “the edge”, they start getting physically sick and tired. If you need somebody to do “heavy-duty” work for you on a constant basis, you will need to find the right person who fits this description.

6. Be clear on your expectations of them and constantly enforce it

While being a “nice boss” will work in your favor, don’t let your employees slack off. Make sure that they understand perfectly what you want from them.

Let them know that you expect consistent and timely completion of your orders.

7. Don’t give more responsibility than they can handle

Sometimes we tend to overestimate what other people are capable of.  We start counting on them and they may really disappoint us.

Just giving people something important to do, doesn’t mean that they can do it timely and properly. Always test people and start with small responsibilities before you move on to the bigger ones.

8. Don’t treat your employees like children

Why? Because they are not! While being the boss makes you have some authority over your employees, remember that they are still adults.

Don’t get carried away when giving them orders or addressing matters. Treat them as equals in a sense, while still making it clear that you will not tolerate any slackers.

If you treat your employees with a condescending tone as though they are children, you will be sure to lose more than a few good workers.

9. Find a fair way to punish people for mistakes

Once again, keeping in mind that your employees are not children, remember that you still should not tolerate slackers.

Employees who exhibit signs of laziness or incompetence should not be allowed to get away with it. You should design measures to take when an employee does less than is expected.

You could give them extra tasks as punishment. If they really do not get your point, a measure as cutting their paycheck should be considered.

10. Never bring people down, especially in front of a group

In every workplace, there will be workers who have a streak of inadequate job performance. As a boss, no matter how tempting it is, do not bring this up when addressing the entire working staff.

If you bring them down when addressing the entire crew, their confidence would be completely diminished. Employees with low confidence will eventually quit no matter how good your offer is or how high their paycheck is.

11. Reward your best employees!

If somebody did an extraordinary job, take notice and don’t get greedy with rewarding properly.

If one of your workers, or several, exceeded your expectations (stayed longer hours or completed an extraordinary task, for example), they should be recognized in front of a group of fellow co-workers and rewarded accordingly.

Outstanding performance should be rewarded in the form of a bonus, cash equivalent, or a pay raise.

Giving out a special certificate and hanging it on the board with a picture, sounds small, but a is a very nice thing to do in order for everybody to see this example and follow it in the future.

12. Get to know your people

Take your people out once in a while for lunch, dinner, or a game of golf. Bonding with your people is essential for keeping them in your team long-term.

If you are afraid to lose respect as you start building relationships, remember: “if all you do is make people afraid of you, they will never have space in their hearts to love you”, and definitely will have no reason to stay with you.

Don’t be an overbearing boss. Relax with your people from time to time. Go on quick vacations and give them a treat.

Try to bond with them over lunch or dinner and get to know them. What a great way to find out whether they like their job or not!

Let them bond with each other and build friendships. Maybe your employees will find themselves competing with each other in your workplace, but now they have an opportunity to find out that the “other guy” that they work with is actually not so bad and that they have a lot in common.

This type of relationship-building will keep people working in your place for a longer period of time.

13. Be open to feedback from employees

Keep “the door open” for communications and feedback. Even though you are the boss and leader, you must always make room for suggestions and observations of your employees.

It is always useful to see things from another angle and especially if coming from the employee, who is actually on the front line making things happen and dealing with your clients.

Try considering their ideas and suggestions when making important decisions. If somebody had a great idea and you would like to implement it, make sure the employee knows about it and is rewarded for it.

Even a mention or recognition in one of the staff meetings will make them feel happy and important. If your employees will see their ideas being implemented, they’ll feel a sense of belonging and stick to you and your business regardless of circumstances.

14. Your employees should not feel uncomfortable talking to you

Make a little time to chat with your people one on one. This is where you will discover real problems and hopes for the future.

Is it important to know if they have a problem with their wife/husband? Of course! That would explain why they feel depressed once in a while.

If you can, help them handle it. If you can’t, get to a mutual agreement about how not to feel so upset while at work.

If your staff can be honest with you, then keeping good quality employees will not be a problem for you.

15. Have a good backup plan

Emergencies happen! Always have a backup plan, even if you have to do work yourself.

People get sick, children get sick, and so on, and so forth. You need to be prepared for emergencies like that.

That is when you end up being understaffed and your customers keep on coming! So what do you do?

Have a good backup plan and a good book of contacts! You could call in a family member to fill in space or you can even decide to do the job yourself.

But the thing is don’t get really harsh on your employee for having this problem. Believe me, they are not really happy about this either.

If he/she goes out for too long, of course, you will need to fill in the position. But try to hold on to it if you can.

Of course, if you find out that it’s a trick and an employee is lying to you – it’s time to show them a door.