High Staff Turnover from Department of Economic Development (Essay Sample)

High Staff Turnover from Department of Economic Development
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Introduction
High staff turnover can be described as the rate of employees leaving an organization and are replaced by others, this can either be an employee’s choice to leave or if they are fired by their bosses from work. High staff turnover has been affecting many organizations, however this is not a new thing to occur in many organizations. Staff turnover is basically one of the ways businesses stay in competition. However at time the turnover goes beyond the expected point hence causing an organization to run out of business. Staff turnover is basically caused by various experiences and situations that employees go through in an organization.
Problems faced during high staff turnover.
Some of the major issues that may lead to staff turnover are things like discrimination, poor communication skills, poor pay, and many other reasons. However, according to research it shows that many people who had lower grades are the ones mostly affected with staff turnover, this is because they may be working in the lowest sector in an organization and their salary is not enough for them to make ends meet. The research also shows that most the number of men quitting their jobs is higher as compared to women. It also shows that people who are still on their youthful age also quit their jobs as often as compared to older people, this is because most youths are still confused on the career they want to pursue for the rest of their lives and therefor, end up shuffling between jobs hoping to find that one dream job. However, others just quit because the salary is not enough or maybe the jobs they are supposed to do are too hard for them to keep up with. This might seem harmless but the process of losing and hiring new workers can be quit hard for the person in charge, and it is also costly since you might get new employees who do not agree with your terms of payment and you will either have to give them a raise for them to stay or not hire them and continue searching for a qualified person.
High employee turnover can affect a company severely especially on a company with little resources to invest in employees. Employees who are satisfied with their job cannot give them up, so when you see a staff turnover in your organization it is evident that you have a problem or maybe there is something you are not doing right to make the employees stay. However, this does not mean that every employee who leaves your organization is unsatisfied, some can be moving out of town, retiring, starting their own jobs and many other reasons. But if you are losing a lot of good employees due to staff turnover then you should try and consider checking the reasons making them to leave.
Causes of high turnover.
High turnover is basically caused by reasons which contribute to one being bored. In a working environment, if an employee is not satisfied with their jobs they will either quit or end up doing the job badly due to lack of proper motivation. However, being bored with your job is not the only reason why employees leave their employers and go out to seek for a better one. Some of the employees may just decide to leave their employer because the skills they possess and the education background they have is way more than what they are being paid, and therefore, they are forced to look for a job that will pay them what they truly deserve. According to a research done by Breuer, Nancy (2000), Some people will also just quit because they need a job that offers good benefits or the one which shows signs of potential future growth. As the manager of an organization you cannot change what is happening at other companies, or reduce their pay to match yours and even you cannot determine the benefits they offer their employees but, you can take steps to improve the attitude of your employees and make them happy and comfortable with the little you can offer them. This is why it is important to be able to separate employees who leave because they are unhappy and those who leave for other reasons. Breuer, Nancy (2000), "assigning employees jobs which they have no experience in may end up discouraging them, making them feel as if their skills are not of any help to the organization. This is why it is always important to get an employee’s full job description and skills before hiring them.
In other cases, workers can quit due to poor working conditions or lacking required tools and facilities. If an organization lacks things like proper lighting, poor ventilations, and poor hygiene or even lack basic things like a toilet, workers will eventually have to quit due to the poor conditions. Some jobs are basically just there for the sake of it, in which they do not have or show any signs of growth or advancement in anytime soon. This may affect employees since, the employees may want a promotion or get more experience, but since the organization has no space for growth this maybe impossible to happen. Appreciation, is another cause of high turnover, since most of the employee will struggle and work hard even have to work beyond working hours just to please their boss, but for some reason the boss never recognizes or appreciates the effort of the employee. So once in a while it is always good for the boss to show appreciation too what the employees do for the organization. Employees need guidance and directions on what to do and what not to do for the organization, or ells they will end up feeling as if they lack the ability to get good performances in their jobs. If any of the above causes applies in an organization then you actually have a turnover situation to solve before you run out of employees.
When measuring high turnover for a large organization which has a large number of employees, calculations are usually technical. Small businesses can also keep track of turnover and through this they can try and spot the changes and potential problems which may arise.
Literature review
TRACEY Bruce, (2000), in the article "The cost of turnover: putting a price on the learning curve" she explains to us on how jobs which do not require a lot of skills and education can be positively affected by retention strategy to improve the engagement, turnover and financial statements, especially for positions that require one to interact with customers. In the article it also shows how staying with an employee for a long period of time can affect the company since, the employees will be adopted to all the things that are supposed to be done so that the company does not collapse.
When approaching turnover it is always important to be able to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary turnover, this is according to an article by HANSEN Fay, (2005) "The turnover myth”. And to illustrate on this case the author came up with an example of the SAS institution, a global successful company where, while voluntary turnover is low, then involuntary turnover is much than all other sectors. The article also shows how most companies experience a general managerial reluctance when it comes to discharging employees from work due to poor performances just because they are afraid of being sued for doing so. The author also argues that" optimal turnover is not the lowest turnover you can achieve. Optimal turnover produces the highest long-term levels of productivity and business improvement”. The article also shows the benefits turnover can implement on a company especially when it get to employ young staffs at a lower salary to replace retiring employees.
Normand Charles, (1996), in this article the author illustrates how turnover has been exaggerated as a bad phenomenon. The author explains on how turnover can be beneficial to organizations, he says that turnover is considered by economist as a necessary feature of an efficient labor market and can be beneficial to a market in several ways for example it helps in increasing production in a company since it helps in ensuring better matches between jobs and workers.
According to, Breuer, Nancy (2000) "Even in high turnover industries, not everyone’s a quitter”. The article basically focusses on retail companies, which are known to have the highest numbers of turnover rates. However some do manage to make their employees stay. She tries to show how there is perfect organization and all should be tailor made to fit the need of all its employees. She cites Macy’s companies as an example to her research. There, the executives have been made responsible for all retentions and all employees have to report to them for all matters. However at the same time managers have been given better orientation training, both as a way to retain them, but also be in a position to be able to improve their people management skills as a retainer for those they manage. In her article, Sekella, a consultant, says that the first week of new employees experience is the critical factor in retention and needs to be managed and well planned from time to time. He also focuses on how important it is for an employee to be shown that the company if tailored and the chances of growth are open to all employees.
The cost of employee turnover.
This might sound funny but basically when an employee leave you company it can cost your company a lot, Hansen, Fay (2005), labeled turnover as a "money-sucking evil”. First, when an employee leaves the company, productivity might have to go down, since all the other workers will be forced to squeeze their duties for them to also handle the duties of the employee who left. Second, the company will be forced to use more money to pay its employees for them to work extra time just to finish the work the employee left, until another replacement is found to fill the spot. Third, when a company ...