Reducing High Staff Turnover - Example

Reducing High Staff Turnover Reducing High Staff Turnover Introduction Recent decades are characteristic of several dynamics in the labour market. Every competitive company or organization strives to hire and retain highly qualified and talented staff to keep up with the changing work demands. High employee turnover is one of the contentious issues that employers have to deal with in their day to day management efforts. Employee motivation, better remuneration, better working environment and good working relationships are some of the factors that influence whether an organization retains or loses an employer. High employee turnout is detrimental to company’s point decision making. When a member of staff leaves, the remaining workers feel the effect. Consequently, their work morale reduces significantly lowering organization’s productivity (Chon & Maier 2010 p. 166). In addition, company incurs high costs in identifying, recruiting and training new employees for replacement to those lost. Employ turnover can either be voluntary or involuntary (Cascio 2010, p. 83). It is the process that leads to the loss of an employ after he chooses to leave the current place of employment. Organizations should, therefore, minimize incurring extra expenses of losing already trained and experienced workers. Achieving the goal of retaining such talented workers takes great efforts and remedies to unfavourable conditions that may scare away or discourage workers from the work place. Such measures include recognising and rewarding employees, offering flexibility, update compensation and benefits, reviewing performance, allowing room for growth and development, providing an inclusive vision, promoting respect among others ways. Methods of Reducing High Staff Turnover Private unionised home that provides care to the elderly persons requires staffing of highly qualified nurses to take care of the clients. The Care Home offers one of the most competitive remuneration to its staff in the region of operation and industry. However, the care home for the elderly faces massive challenges in retaining the already hired experienced and talented staff. It is therefore advisable that the care home management observe the following measures to keep their highly skilled employees. Recognize and Reward Employees Management of care home for the elderly should put in place machinery to ensure that nurses who show exemplary performance in the line of duty receive recognition through real time reward. Recognition is a way of celebrating hard working nurse’ and successes as he or she discharges organizational duties. The type of reward should be specific, with tangible support and social. Consequently, employees will develop a spirit of working hard to be beneficiaries of the rewards and recognition (Bragg, 2009). Hard work by employees improves the productivity of the firm as well as rewarding management with loyalty. Sending simple emails that praise a worker at the completion of the project and writing monthly memos that clearly identifies an outstanding performer in a team is a great motivator to the worker. Furthermore, managers at home care for the elder should not forget to offer peer recognition programs that will boost injection of positive response from the labor force. Management should also consider reporting good accomplishments of individual nurses up the chain with a thank you note with copied higher marks. These moves with competitive salaries will positively influence employees’ motivation and the output will take an upward aspect. Establish All Aspects of a Candidate During recruitment process, many employers fail to identify all traits of a potential employee. This should include evaluating how well a particular candidate got values that can fit into the organization’s work force, especially the already existing teams. When management carries out proper aspect evaluation, then the outcome will be a pool of desired employees (Maitland & Thomson 2011, p. 9). As a result, staff turnover will reduce significantly as well as enhanced employee performance because they will always feel to belong. Improve and Embrace Flexibility and Respect to the Nurses Other than sufficient financial reward to the employees, work balance resulting into flexibility in life is a priority to most employees today. Center for work and Family in Boston carried out a study. It revealed that up to 76% of managers and over 80% of workers revealed that arrangement of work that is flexible in nature had positive influence on positive on staff retention (De Gooijer, 2009, p. 189). Managers should understand that denying flexible work life to employees around work hours and allocations would result into departure of employees. Employment is not about people management and compensation alone, it also involves employees’ expectation management, staff problems, and staff motivation. Management should also focus on managing the joys of employees by asking them how they will work to strike a work-life balance (Fottler, Khatri & Savage 2010, p. 29). When there exists a balance and contentment among employees, productivity, loyalty and success will be inevitable among them at the work place. Furthermore, flexibility provides employees with an opportunity to feel valued and gives them an assurance of recognition and a sense of respect. Management of the care home for the elderly must take note of how vital it is to factor in worker’s personal lives into their program to competitively attract, hire, and retain top competitive talents among nurses (Surakka et al., 2012). Care home for the elder management should not overlook respect if at all they want to develop a magnetic and cohesive culture among the workers. Various researches have revealed that lack of respect to even the junior most staff have contributed significantly to the high staff turnover witnessed in many organizations. For that reason, management at the care home will realize that nurturing and cultivating respect in the private investment will dearly pay them off in terms of higher retention. Create Growth and Development Opportunities to Nurses Many employees who receive good salary package still fail to find satisfaction in their workplaces if there is no room for opportunities for growth (Chon & Maier 2010 p. 166). Growth and development is one of the factors employees really value and they believe that any organization that does not offer development opportunity is not worth working for. The management must every moment strive to develop its employees. Additionally, care home for elder management should give priority to investing in its staff. Human resource section should invest time in mentoring, training, and advancing its nurses. Employees do not just quit due to uncompetitive compensation, but also out of frustrating status quo and unclear future development strategies. It is, therefore, vital that management create an environment that promotes generation of new ideas and rewarding people behind the creativity (Fishman 2010, p. 93). Furthermore, nurses should also find room for taking new and advanced responsibilities in circumstances of promotion (Ribiere et al., 2014). Employees promoted based on job merit and exceptional services to the company not only feel self-motivated, but also inspire the rest of employees to strive for promotion and upgrade. Consider Optional Roles for Unhappy Nurses There are workers who never feel satisfied with the positions given to them possibly due to mismatch in their talents or interests. As much as they may work hard, their personality and skills keep them demoralized, hence low productivity amongst them. Management of the home care should deeply assess the nurses to establish areas of interest among for at least some of them if not all. Afterwards, management should consider reorganizing them into other important roles rather than think of dismissing them on the ground of low productivity. Firing nurses who can fit into other departments of the company will be costly in the end pertaining hiring and training new nurses into the homecare system (Williams 2013, p. 355). However, human resource managers at the organization must be careful when handling interdepartmental transfers to avoid hurt feelings from the nurses. There are employees who may feel demoted in cases of transfer to optional roles. Nonetheless, once the human resource manager advices them accordingly as to why they get the optional roles, then every worker will find it necessary to take up new role satisfactorily without further questions. Consider Firing Extremely Bad Employees Although it is important to keep employees in an attempt to avoid high staff turnover, at times management must always act to do away with exceptionally bad employees to maintain turnover at minimum. Holding a company back involves the efforts of poorly performing employees, those with negative attitude and grossly incompetent. Such poorly exceptional employees with negative attitudes share their negative views with the exceptionally good performing records. The other workers feel that bad work just go unpunished among the workers (Williams, 2011, p.441). Consequently, bad worker can easily influence other nurses in the home care to develop same negative attitude towards management or work. In situations of such kind, management should act quickly in dismissing the one negative nurse before the rest of the workers have worse experiences. Dismissal will salvage the long run likelihood of losing many workers to other potential employers because of bad influence from other workers. Empower Employees to Make Decisions Giving employees an opportunity for participating and making routine decisions for making changes in the organization procedures is essential. Nurses who have the authority to be decisive when situations that warrant changes in job procedures arise will always feel the ease of working, hence no thinking of departing from the home care private organization (Mohammad et al., 2014). Qualified nurses who have to undergo thorough consultations with the supervisors before making even simple decisions feel frustrated besides time consumption. Home care management should train and encourage employees to employ their own judgment to reach such decisions that do not involve many technicalities. Consequently, both the nurses and clients of home care feel satisfied with the ability to make decisions and quick service delivery respectively. Review and Introduce Benefits Other Than Compensation After ensuring that employees receive their fair going wage for work, management should also provide pay rise to enable employees develop and feel their rising worth. Management should also consider establishing incentive programs that enhance qualified nurses’ satisfaction (Griffiths 2011, p 169). Paid vacations for employees, bonuses and guaranteed raises are among the incentives that the homecare management should give priority in attempt to reduce high employ rate of turnover. In addition, managers must also not forget to provide incentives in rewarding desired behavior among nurses. For instance, nurses who show commitment to their duty throughout the year should receive points after which the leading nurse receives an award from the company. Managers should take advantage of providing incentives to increase services and productivity of nurses as well as retaining them into the home care. Every company should be aware of the existing benefits that other competitive companies offer to their employees (Yee-Malichar, Boyle & Flores, 2010 p. 115). If rival organizations offer more appealing additional benefits than home care for the elderly to qualified nurses, home care will automatically lose some of its best-qualified and experienced nurses. Consider a Trial Period Before offering competitive salaries to qualified nurses, the organization should first carry out a trial test to find out whether the hired personnel are mutually compatible with the home care goals and objectives. Assessment of compatibility of nurses should come without obligations attached to it. The trial period also known as probation is periods that can to great extent improve the loyalty of new employees and consequently reduce high staff turnover (Mackay 2010 p. 64). During the probation period, both parties, the care home for the elderly management and new employer, share their dreams, values and expectations. At the end of the period, both the care home and new recruit will be able to reach an agreement whether they will reach an agreement or not. In addition, probation period enable both parties to reveal any factors that are unknown to either employer or candidate. Encourage Friendly Relationship with Employees Management of home care should focus on creating a socially friendly environment that encourages free interaction between the management and the qualified nurses. Open environment that promotes comfort to workers fosters warm interpersonal relationship will provide a conducive work place for nurses (Hee & Ling 2011, p. 1066). Consequently, boredom will never be a reason for workers to leave care home for the elderly for better working environment. Management should occasionally offer care home employees a fun day out sponsorship for mood lightening. When qualified nurses, other staff members and the entire management go out for sporting activities, drinking and movie watching, employees bond strongly with the management. Consequently, establishment of a warm relationship builds in the organization, hence reducing chances of high staff turnover. Retrain Managers Whose Tenure Portray High Employee Turnover In some circumstances, high turnover is only evident in specific departments but not in the entire organization. In such situations, the top management may identify one of the departmental heads as the root cause of the qualified and experienced nurses’ exit. In addition, individual supervisors may also display certain undesirable management styles that do not auger well with the nurses. Consequently, problems arise between employed nurses and either departmental manager of the other supervisors that at times lead to departure of some employees (Boudreau 2013 p. 513). Nurses land jobs in other rival companies that offer better terms and a favorable working environment. When an employee leaves one organization to the other, he or she may as well influence the other remaining staff to follow soot hence increasing high staff turnover rate. It is, therefore, vital for top management to identify such troublesome departmental managers and supervisors and retrain them on better management practices. It is detrimental for an organization like care home for the elderly to have effective managers if the organization is to succeed (Vonrhein 2009, p.3). As a result, it is important to invest in retraining the inexperienced managers on best management practices that can enable them work with and retain nurses into the organization. Make Communication a Priority Communication is essential between the organizations top management and employees. It provides for an opportunity to identify want employees want, their dissatisfactions, and suggestions. Although some of complains, wants and suggestions may not be viable, open communication with workers will make them develop a feeling that management value their suggestions and opinions. Open interaction will also enable management to find a tip that one of the nurses is planning an exit from the organization (Mello 2014, p. 153). Further, managers find an opportunity to ask their staff what they think; hence, each nurse gives his or her input on best ways the management should run their department. This kind of thinking space reduces chances of autocratic type of management where every bit of command and control flows from hierarchical channel (Hee & Ling 2011, p. 1068). As a result, management can take remedial action to mend where there are problems that may send away experienced employees. Similarly, suggestions from employees through communication can also enable employees to improve on other areas that may boost employ retention in the care home for the elderly. Conclusion Identifying, recruiting and offering compensation packages to employees have become not only a difficult and challenging task to organizations. However, retaining these employees is becoming even a terrible experience to the employees. Managers find it quite a challenging task to deal with the increasing cases of losing experienced and qualified staff to other rival organizations. Nonetheless, every company must lay proper foundation for hiring and retaining experienced workers. As a result, organization manages to avoid making loses and extra costs of hiring and training new replacements. Encouraging communication, offering better packages and bonuses, improving flexibility among other methods can however do a great deal in helping solve high turnover rate. It is evident that identifying, recruiting and training new employees as replacements are an expensive venture to any organization. Therefore, every possible effort that can help retain the present jobholders is a recommendable one. Bibliography Bragg, S. (2009). Controllership: The Work of the Managerial Accountant. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Cascio, W. F. (2010). 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