What is the cost of turnover?
- Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics – employee turnover costs vary from 30% to 200% of a worker’s annual salary
- Example: a $50,000 per year employee costs at least $15,000 to replace
Practice owners often don’t realize how costly turnover is to their organization. If top performers leave, a practice can potentially be left with a low-performing workforce that’s working longer hours and delivering fewer results.
The damage to the organization reaches far beyond the bottom line.
The Turnover Cycle when an employee resigns
Practices may see a reduced ability to serve patients. Reduced service can lead to lost patients and lost revenue.
Turnover Contributors
Millennials, ages 18-34, are expected to make up more than half of the workforce by 2020. In general, this age group won’t hesitate to leave a job if it is not fulfilling or providing growth opportunities.
According to LinkedIn, the percentage of people open to changing jobs has spiked in the past four years, with 87 percent of professionals reporting they are open to speaking with a recruiter. Further, Millennials ages 18-34 make up the largest percentage of workers who look at new job opportunities.
Sixty percent of millennials, ages 22-32, have changed jobs between one and four times in the last five years, according to State Street Global Advisors.
The Solution
Practice owners and leaders must create an engaged culture. While employee engagement isn’t a new concept, it’s become more of a hot-button issue as the job market improves.
How do leaders create an engaged culture?
1. Establish a strong practice culture and communicate it
Practices that create a culture defined by meaningful work, deep employee engagement and job and organizational fit will likely attract and keep top talent.
Culture is rooted in an organization’s values. It all starts with the owner and is reinforced by all managers. That said, practices must clearly define their culture and then ensure it’s articulated, understood by employees and lived every day in the organization. One and done programs cause more harm than good. To foster culture, it’s important to have regular and candid communications and keep employees informed of practice news, charitable events, new hires, and more. This helps employees feel that they are “in the know.”
2. Show how employees contribute and how their jobs matter
Research shows millennials, more than previous generations, need to feel a sense of fulfillment and that their work is important. Help them understand how their work positively impacts the organization, takes care of patients or provides critical support to other co-workers.
3. Provide regular and consistent performance feedback
Employees want to know how they are doing and how they can improve. Practice performance improves with continual employee performance improvement. If someone isn’t performing well, ignoring it won’t make it better. It only exacerbates the angst the underperforming employee feels and the frustration other co-workers endure.
Guest post courtesy of SCL Business Partner, Karen Hughey of KR-HR