5 Ways to Reduce Early Attrition (5 mins Read)

Employee attrition is the reduction of staff due to some voluntary or involuntary reasons. Attritions can be through natural means like retirement or it can be through termination of contract, resignation or when a company decides to go away with a position. Employee attrition is something which every business experiences. When employees leave an organisation, it results in quite a loss for your business. It takes a lot of time and money to find a substitute and train the suitable replacement. So, it’s best for businesses to reduce their attrition rate as much as possible.

How To Reduce Early Employee Attrition

If you face high employee attrition too early, it’s in your best interest to reduce it. Not to worry, you can use free and very inexpensive methods to convince your employees to stick around for a longer time. Some of the methods to reduce early attrition are:

1. Hire The Right People

Retaining employees for a long time starts with hiring the fittest employees for the job. Although, you are very likely to hire employees who have strong skills which match your open position, but, how well do those employees fit in with the culture of your business that factor also needs to be considered very closely. You should hire employees who are the cultural fits for the job. You can ask the employees some behavioural interview questions in order to find out how they react in certain situations. Moreover, during the interviews, be sure to take the candidates around your business and tell them about the workplace culture. Candidates will themselves withdraw if they don’t fit in with the culture. If the employees don’t fit in with the work environment, it is guaranteed that they won’t be happy. If they aren’t happy, they won’t get along with their co-workers well and they’ll feel lonely and left out. An outstanding candidate that doesn’t match the behaviours and culture of your business won’t stay for long with you as it will be a waste of time for him. They’ll carry their skills somewhere else where they fit in with the culture in a better way.

2. Competitive Compensation And Benefits

Employees want to be compensated well. They need to cover their standard expenses well like housing, utilities and food. Apart from that most people want enough money for their extra expenses, too. If you don’t pay your employees well, they’ll find some other business that will. While determining and fixing the compensation and benefits for your employees, it’s good to do some market research on the wages prevailing in the market for that same position. You need to find out what your competitors pay their employees. Offer a competitive salary range based on the similar jobs in your local area. For example, if you want to hire an IT specialist in New York, you should consider what other businesses pay their IT specialists in New York. You can’t simply give the employees their paychecks and be done with that. Employees need good benefits, too. You have to find out what benefits the competitors and other businesses in your area offer. Then, you should offer competitive benefits to your employees like good paid time off, health insurance, life insurance, company transport, house rent allowance, retirement benefits etc.

3. Recognize the Good Work

Your employees need encouragement and recognition from time to time. When employees do something good, show your appreciation immediately without wasting any time. When they complete a large, difficult project or submit a project much before the deadline, appreciate and congratulate them. Show them that you see their hard work and acknowledge and recognize them for their contribution. This doesn’t meant that you have to shower your employees with praise for everything that they do. You don’t need to praise the employees for small, everyday tasks. But, when the employees truly do something outstanding then you need to appreciate, recognize and reward them suitably. The goal should be to create an encouraging and positive work environment. When the employees feel respected, acknowledged, desired and motivated, they are more likely to stay in the company for a longer time. Best part is that this method to decrease the early employee attrition is free. You just need to use some nice words.

4. Show them the right Career Path

If the employees stagnate in a job for too long, they might go searching for another job where they can advance quickly. Most employees want to enhance their skills and knowledge and move up the ladder rapidly. Showing the employees a projected career path which gives them a sense of direction and purpose helps in reducing attrition immensely. You should always show your employees a right and clear career path which would give them an idea where can they go from their current position. It may be an upward movement or a lateral move. Or, maybe the employees can earn more responsibility in their same position. Whatever it might be, let your employees know how they can progress and grow. You can help the employees advance along their chosen career path. Provide them with the right coaching by recommending the ways to advance. You can also provide the employees with lot of training opportunities. Give them ample opportunities to learn new skills and let them practice on those skills.

5. Offer Flexible Work Schedules

Allow flexible work schedules, if it’s possible for your company. The flexible work schedules let the employees adjust their work time and the location. Employees then can have a great work life balance for themselves. Your workers get enough time to pursue things beyond their work, go to appointments and take care of their families. But, flexible work schedules might not be possible for all the businesses. Your employees might be needed to be at your business at some specific hours and times. But still, there might be ways you can offer some flexibility, such as flexible lunch times. You need to understand that the employees have lives outside of work too. When your employees can live their lives outside of work, they will be more satisfied and less distracted while at work.

Conclusion:

Early employee attrition can’t be completely wiped out. There will always be employees who would want to leave the company or the business for various reasons. They will find jobs which they’re more interested in, change their career paths, go for higher studies or maybe start their own business. But, you can always reduce it by providing a workplace where employees find strong reasons to stay for a long time and would stick to the job for the great benefits