Top Causes of Employee Turnover and How to Address Them

Employee turnover has increasingly become an issue in today’s workforce. It’s popularly becoming more common to jump organizations today. When an employee leaves, the organization suffers from increased costs, decreased productivity, and disruption in operations to replace them. 

Types of turnover

There are 2 types of turnover - voluntary and involuntary. On average, a company experiences 18% annual turnover rate in its workforce annually₁. It is not uncommon to lose 6%₂ of staff because of reduction in force or terminating them due to poor performance. This is known as involuntary turnover. 

On average, companies lose 13% of their people every year because they choose to leave on their own volition₃.

Voluntary turnover is when employees who leave do so by their own decision. There are many reasons that come to play other than unsatisfactory pay when leaving a job. According to the State of the Global Workplace Report, A large number, 6 in 10, of employees are surveyed to be “quiet quitting”.

Reasons for employees leaving

Here are some of the top causes of employee turnover: 

• Lack of Employee Engagement: When employees do not feel engaged or connected to their work and the organization's mission, their peers or the work they are doing.
  
  
• Inadequate Training and Development: Employees who do not receive proper training from their supervisors or peers. This could lead to feeling stagnated in their career growth.
  
  
• Poor Work-Life Balance: A lack of work-life balance, excessive overtime, and unrealistic workloads can lead to burnout and prompt employees to leave in search of better work-life integration.
  
  
• Ineffective Management: Poor leadership, micromanagement, lack of support and communication and a toxic work environment can all contribute to employees feeling dissatisfied and deciding to leave. Another reason is failing to acknowledge and reward employees for their contributions which can lead to a lack of motivation and job satisfaction.
  
  

• Health and Wellbeing Concerns: Inadequate workplace safety measures or a lack of support for employee health and wellbeing can result in higher turnover, especially during a pandemic or health crisis.
  
  

How to get tackle rising employee turnover rates

Now that we know an organization with high turnover rates could mean, it is important to know how to tackle this growing problem. Reducing employee turnover involves addressing these factors through improved human resources management and creating a positive work environment that fosters employee satisfaction and engagement. Researchers at University of Warwick found that improving employee wellbeing can increase productivity by 12%₅ in the Happiness and Productivity Report.

Turnover statistics from active job seekers can help recruiters and HR managers understand why people are leaving or how they can attract top talent. They can inform initiatives to reduce turnover—especially among top performers—and enhance employee experience. 

One such way is through creating a healthy loop of feedback from employees who left during their exit interviews about their working life and suggestions on how to improve various aspects of the organization. 

Another way is by allowing for career development opportunities, competitive compensation, supportive teams and continued learning and a strong company culture can all help mitigate overall turnover rates. 

How does Atiom help with high turnover? 

Atiom ensures employee disengagement and training abilities are addressed. Atiom’s behavioral technology works beyond just simply training employees with SOPs and workshops. Atiom is an AI-assisted behavioral tech app delivering real-time training, performance and

service standards with habit-forming frameworks to drive behavior change in minutes a day.

A deep dive into our features

Atiom has a multitude of features that make a difference to employees. Firstly, our “Study Modules” will continually update employees on new training modules, keeping them well-equipped with materials that they are required to be familiar with. This is not about having them well trained, but having them brain-stimulated with our gamification techniques. This helps keep them adequately trained in a way that is sustainable, low cost and effective!

Next, we have “Appreciation Halls”, your employees feel more recognized and valued in their work and position.This, of course, makes them feel like they are respected in their teams and workplace and more engaged within their peers. 

Thirdly, a lot of time, there is a disconnect with upper management and the rest of the company. Hence, a feature like “Newsfeed” and “Community Forum'' closes the gap between the 2 groups and allows for more communication and collaboration. 

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Conclusion

These tools could be used as a way to create a feedback loop and discussion point. This helps the management put  important information about work and non-work related topics which creates a space of support, involvement and concern that extends beyond work. 

With Atiom, your employees are bound to feel more engaged, valued and appreciated at their workplace which undoubtedly enhances productivity and service excellence all while reducing turnover rate. 

References:

1. Holliday, M. (2022, July 27). 50 Employee Turnover Statistics to Know Today. Oracle NetSuite. https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/human-resources/employee-turnover-statistics.shtml 
2. Holliday, M. (2022, July 27). 50 Employee Turnover Statistics to Know Today. Oracle NetSuite. https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/human-resources/employee-turnover-statistics.shtml 
3. Holliday, M. (2022, July 27). 50 Employee Turnover Statistics to Know Today. Oracle NetSuite. https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/human-resources/employee-turnover-statistics.shtml 
4. Oswald, Andrew J. , Proto, Eugenio and Sgroi, Daniel. (2015) Happiness and productivity. Journal of Labor Economics, 33 (4). pp. 789-822.