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What is Preventable Turnover?

Written by: Jeremy Heighton

Article Overview: This article, part of the WOW whitepaper on retention, focusses on why employees engage, and what sucessfully engaged companies do to reduce turnover and engage their teams.

Free Download - The Honeymoon Hangover - why the ideal hire can fail By Jeremy Heighton

What is Preventable Turnover?

Preventable turnover is the loss of staff that occurs as the direct result of poor management, misaligned management systems, poor organizational culture, wage disparity or organizational disconnect.

Typically, employees in a “survival” wage range of between $10 - $15 per hour are most likely to leave. This is due to more competitive wage offers with other companies. Typical staff in these categories are: retail cashiers, service personnel, or office administrators.

Enticing these employees to stay does not need to be difficult. Often they are looking for employer recognition, competitive benefits, and creative compensation programs. Unexpected bonuses and/or performance reward programs work great and go a long way toward keeping your employees happy. An example of a performance reward would be a ski pass at the local ski hill for a job well done, or a gift certificate to a nice local restaurant. Another option is to shift hourly workers to a salaried wage

In higher “career” wage ranges ($35,000 +), employees are more attuned to career development. Typically, they seek stability and growth as key aspects of their lives. In this case, benefits, culture, and creative management are keys to effective retention strategies.

A recent Statistics Canada survey showed turnover rates do not tend to drop in response to workplace innovation programs in the “survival” wage range. The survey of 3124 businesses shows that employees at this level are largely influenced by monetary rewards.

At the “career” wage range, workplace innovation and incentive programs show much greater impact, especially in skilled or professional fields. The survey also showed that in career positions, turnover was reduced by organizations that implemented alternative work programs. Examples of these programs are: solution-based or self directed work teams, transparent organizational information sharing, flexible job design, performance-based pay and formalized mentoring and training programs. The success elements to implement these types of programs are consistency and execution over multiple business cycles. Programs must also be launched and tracked in a way that enhances management credibility and builds employee confidence in the system. Before launching a new work program, be prepared to follow it through to the maintenance phase and always uphold the highest of ethical standards.

Effective incentive programs are a powerful way to retain staff, however, they are only part of the solution. The other key aspect comes from modern psychology. The 1943 “Ascending Scale of Needs” by Dr. Abraham Maslow illustrates that once each level of core/intuitive need of an individual is met, it yields to a newer, higher level of need.

WOW staff have refined the scale to reflect our perceived corporate needs sought by most employees at all wage levels. This scale illustrates the importance of communication, remuneration and social connection blending as keys to successful retention strategies.Career employees must have a sense of belonging, connection and future hope or opportunity. If they do, it gives them reason to stay with your organization.

for the complete whitepaper including communication startegies for your workplace and outr on-line urnover cost calculator, please visit our website.

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Article Tags: canada survey, career positions, creative management, employer recognition, flexible job, innovation programs, monetary rewards, office administrators, performance based pay, performance reward, professional fields, retention strategies, reward programs, self directed work teams, ski hill, statistics canada, success elem, turnover rates, wage disparity, workplace innovation

About the Author: Jeremy Heighton
RSS for Jeremy's articles - Visit Jeremy's website

Jeremy is a passionate business consultant who understands the realities of economies, stafing and delivery of service based business. He started his working life in sales and marketing where his high-energy personality and terrific speaking voice led him to an early career in radio and television. He eventually moved to Canada’s North, where he was recruited by the Canadian Federal Government where he spent almost a decade teaching career planning, skils devlopment and public services. Quickly realizing that many staff didn’t know how to give effective presentations, he started training them. And from there, the seeds of WOW were planted, soon growing into an international speaking and consulting business. A sought-after speaker, Jeremy is also an established member of the Canadian Associations of Professional Speakers, Toastmasters International, and the International Federation of Professional Speakers

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