Does high-staff turnover impact your organisation?

Staff turnover is one of the not-so-silent killers of business. Be it through a high rate's damaging effect on workplace culture or the unneeded costs of rehiring and retraining, any employee's departure can be debilitating, especially for small businesses that don't have a dedicated HR function.

Redundancies, restructures and even just seasonal demand forces some business' turnover rates to be high, but what can be controlled, however, are voluntary dismissals. These occur when people leave on their own accord, usually for reasons such as a better offer, an altercation with a supervisor or colleague, adverse working conditions or a plethora of other factors that limit their job satisfaction.

Obviously, employers will always come and go no matter how happy you strive to make them, but when do you know if it's become a problem?

Benchmarking staff turnover

American firm Compensation Force presented 2014 benchmarks segmented by industry. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of variation. For instance, in the commonly low-skill-low-pay hospitality industry, voluntarily turnover rates are very high at 27.6 per cent; whereas the utilities industry experiences far lower rates of 8.6 per cent.

It's important to compare against industry benchmarks rather than national averages to give you a better idea of what is ideal for your company. Even so, the average turnover rate for Australian organisations has increased dramatically over the last three years.

A report released in late 2015 from the Australian Human Resources Institute uncovered that the average Australian organisation is now losing 16 per cent of its staff each year. Up from 13 per cent in 2012, this is a clear indicator that there is a major staff engagement problem.

Ensuring a fluid replacement

It can be hard to recover quickly when an employee leaves out of the blue, especially when you and other staff have to pick up the slack. But if you have the right measures in place, then the replacement process can be smooth and easy.

One way to do this is to work closely with a recruitment company. At Flexi Personnel, we know that in order to reduce staff turnover and avoid its damaging effect on revenue and morale, you need to hire the right people from the start. It isn't all about just having the most qualified or experienced employee, it's about matching the right type of person with your organisation.

For more information or advice about our permanent recruitment solutions, get in touch today.