Another equally important discussion for managers and HR personnel is the impact of low turnover in their company employment. A quick glance over the term would always mean a positive aspect of a company’s status, but a deeper insight is actually enlightening and instructive in the corporation’s managerial system.
A low turnover would mean that among all the employees within an agency, only a few decide to leave their posts for some reason within a specified time span.
Commonly, having a low turnover rate for a company would mean an exceptional managerial effort. It is also considered a positive attribute as it prevents incurring expenses from the budget allotment to be used in any hiring, recruitment, or training activities for new employees.
However, as the employment industry evolves, a low turnover rate isn’t necessarily a good thing all the time. In fact, maintaining a set of employees for a longer period of time may not always be healthy at all.
Low turnover in employment doesn’t always mean positive management – it may also reflect flaws in the company.
Here are revolutionizing insights on why a low turnover rate doesn’t always indicate a positive perception:
1. It May Indicate that Other Companies Don’t Find Your Employees Desirable and Competitive
Other companies, especially your competitors, don’t see the muster of employees as an addition to their team. They find little value in the assembly of employees that the company may have at present. This is because of several reasons like having the lesser capability to do the task at hand or might be because of the minimal value they display towards their job.
Some companies may also have the perception that your employees are undertrained and that they don’t do an outstanding performance at work.
These companies don’t see the relevance of your employees to the new schemes and manners that jobs are done today. They don’t find them proficient enough in doing tasks like digitalization and streamlining of workflows and processes.
Other recruitment managers may also find your employees are inflexible; that they are firmly set to the workplace activities that they originally have and wouldn’t be adaptable to another one. They foresee that these employees will find it hard to adjust and adapt to the new environment in case they are hired by another company.
They may also see such employees as not globally competitive. For them, they don’t have the preparedness and potential to compete at an international level.
This is a good opportunity for you to start reflecting on possible improvements and developments to give to your current employees. This is also a golden opportunity to help them grow so they can help you attain your company’s goals.
2. It May Reflect Complacency On Your Part
If not taken care of, a low turnover rate may result in your employees being too comfortable and pleased with their job performance. They don’t mind doing extra work to provide improvements to their job and company.
They will become overly confident in their job position because they had been there for a number of years. As such, they may treat this tenure as security to their appointment rather than a challenge to display the work experience they learn throughout those years.
Employers can also be complacent. They have the tendency to overly trust the set of employees they have. They may even ignore the continuous empowerment of their company and tend to be loose on management. Thus, their employees won’t even bother setting new goals and progress in their careers.
Complacency in the workplace may also occur if you tend to lose sight of your employees’ career growth and development. Training and seminars are a big part of your staff’s skills development, and if these components are not present, you will lose grip on the total development of the company as a whole.
Most employees will exert effort in their job if they have additional skills gained while working for your company. They would deliberately take time to learn by themselves and take the opportunity to grow under the mentorship of their supervisors.
3. It Can Indicate a Lack of Innovation
Inasmuch as we value loyalty to our company brought about by low turnover, we should also look forward to some changes that other people may bring into our agency. Having new people in the office could provide a new ambiance and perspective on the issue that matters to the company and its people.
Getting an additional supervisor who has the strength in areas that the company needs improvement on should be a welcomed addition. A newbie who has the vigor, ambition, and savviness in technology is another good addition your company can have.
Employing new technological systems or digitalization to existing office methods will be an advantage. With proper training, your employees will find their work more exciting.
This may also serve as an inspiration to your tenured employees to try other skills they can still learn and venture into other opportunities that they may have within the company, like a promotion for example.
4. It Breeds Overtolerance
Having the same people around every day can also result in a practice called overtolerance. This is done by compromising strictness and severity even towards inappropriate working attitudes and practices.
Togetherness for a long time tends to breed overfamiliarity and brings in the tendency not to object or correct any bad habits or activities being exercised within the office. Eventually, this becomes the culture of the company, which is then imbibed as its atmosphere.
Having a fresh addition to the team could break this kind of tradition and allow spaces for self-improvement and team building rather than doing things they are accustomed to. This will also give a chance for older staff to focus on mentoring younger employees with the proper system that runs the company.
5. It Can Lead to Weak Company Brand and Image
Generally, if a hiring manager needs to choose between an employee who came from a good company or someone who originates from a mediocre company, he will nonetheless choose someone whose company has a good reputation.
There are times when company owners may not perceive that their company branding or imaging has a relevant effect on the manner other companies may hire their staff but it has a significant bearing upon it.
A bookkeeping firm that has a reputation for including fraudulent transactions in its records wouldn’t have the authority to vouch for an employee who wanted to be a part of a prestigious accounting firm.
A fast-food chain that is known to have slow service and an uncoordinated set of staff can never successfully substantiate the qualification of its staff should it ever wish to be employed in a fast serving or a fine dining restaurant.
This is a good challenge for every company to reexamine the existing picture they project to the consumers and the competitors they have in their industry.
Knowing exactly how other companies perceive them will give an idea of what aspects of management and marketing they can improve and work on so that they have an increase in their sales and ROI while keeping their valued employees.
6. Existence of the Retribution Culture
We can say that a company has a culture of retribution when employees were given deliberate disciplinary measures or proactive punishment should they be known to venture into any application with another company.
An intentional act of sanction or forfeiture of any privilege and opportunity can be an example of this. With this at hand, the tendency of an employee to exercise his right to set out for another company is hindered. He may then refuse to respond to any inquiry that a recruiter may ask of him.
A company may or may not have the awareness that such a culture runs in them, but they are losing out on the significant opportunity to hear brilliant and crisp ideas from their employees. Every successful company always brings in the thoughts and ideas that come from their crew, staff, and employees during strategic planning sessions.
Many times, these ideas may not be a major gamechanger in the management, aspect but they will surely shed light on how the company conducts business with its consumers and various stakeholders.
7. It Can Indicate that Employees Aren’t Visible
Being visible means the ability to be seen or observed by others. If other companies don’t recruit or hire your employees, it may also be for the reason that they are not active in any technological advancement available today.
They may not be utilizing any social media platform where news updates and announcements can be obtained. With this realization at hand, you may then start to promote the use of some social media platform to help widen your employees’ online awareness, thus developing them.
Should they respond positively to the invitation, you can now ask them to join in sharing any upcoming digital campaigns that the company will produce.
8. It Implies Remote Locations
Low turnovers in a company could also mean that employees are not looking for another job because it means that the company is located in an isolated or remote area. It may also mean that it is already the best company in the locality and employees don’t want to move away from it, anymore especially if they originated there.
What Can Be Done with these Insights?
The insights mentioned above are meant to drive you as the business owner into action. These steps will empower your company’s staff and make low turnover work for you exceptionally. Here are some of the things you can do using such insights:
Grow your company, its resources, and your people
Adding value to employees is very essential in management. People who worked with your company are an asset, and they should proportionately grow over the years.
Crafting a deliberate plan of development, training, and incentives for your employees will help them be equipped and empowered. It will allow them to be always at the edge of their industry, and it will make them competitive and knowledgeable in their field.
Establish a dynamic culture in the workplace
Learning to create healthy competition in the corporate arena of the business is helpful to both your employees and your company. Devising some programs that will enhance motivation and participation are very critical ingredients to being successful in this aspect.
This will also prevent idle time for employees and rather give them opportunities to redirect their efforts into much more fruitful endeavors.
Innovate, innovate, innovate
With a much faster phase of technological updates taking place, you can’t afford to have your beloved employees be left out. Deliberate programs dealing with updates and upgrades can be conducted periodically to raise their awareness.
Give opportunities for employees to share their piece of insight
One way to show employees that they are not taken for granted is to give them ample time to share their ideas. This will also prevent some type of bureaucracy from taking place in the company where very few rules dictate courses of action.
This will also provide you with well-rounded insights into the status and solutions available for your company, not to mention this will also draw engagement from your employees.
Allowing employees to share their knowledge during meetings and planning sessions will inspire them and make them feel that they are valued in the company.
Work to improve your brand
Weak branding and imaging may tell you that you aren’t yet doing enough in packaging and selling off your products and services. Aside from the periodic upgrading of product quality, you may also opt to establish the identity and credibility of your offers through advertisements, providing excellent customer service, and a consistent effective media presence.
Do not be afraid to move
Take every opportunity of movement as progress. Should there be requirements for promotion, turnovers or recruitment always have the optimistic perspective that it will bring improvement.
Having dynamic and empowered employees give meaning to a company’s low turnover rates. It is very enlightening to know what a low turnover may imply for a company. This way, you may conduct an introspection towards your company’s existing policies, strategies, and current work conditions to escalate growth and development in several aspects of human resources and management as a whole.
Restructuring and implementing changes because you have gained significant insight on low turnovers may be challenging, but growing those people who work with your company will bring immense advantage to your company’s sales and management reputation.
