Why Do Companies Experience Turnover?

Constant turnover can be frustrating for a company. You constantly need to conduct interviews, re-train people, go over and file more paperwork, and hope that the newest hire stays. But what causes the constant turnover? Could it be something inside the company? Here are some of the biggest causes of employee turnover.

Poor Management

The saying goes: “employees don’t leave jobs, they leave managers.” Poor management is one of the leading causes of employee turnover – and it can be a cause of everything else on this list! Employees want a manager that will actually manage them! Not a manager that will consistantly forget to tell them something, then get upset when the employee didn’t know of the thing the manager never told them about!

Poor communication – or lack thereof – can be one of the most frustrating things for an employee. To grow professionally, employees need feedback on their current abilities so they can see where they need to improve. Employees also deserve recognition for their accomplishments; if you worked for months on a project then didn’t receive any sort of thank you or feedback, it would be frustrating, right?

Toxic Work Culture

There are some clear-cut signs that indicate a toxic work environment: narcissistic management, poor communication between management and the employees, inconsistent expectations, gossip and cliques, high stress levels, and high turnover rates.

Toxic work environments are a huge red flag to any new employee. If a person walks into a new job and everyone who works there is negative, in a bad mood, or closed-off, the new employee will be concerned as to why none of their new coworkers are satisfied. This will cause the new employee to consider if working at that company is going to be a good thing or not.

Burnout

Being expected to put in your 100% all day every day can – and will – cause employee burnout. Not allowing water-cooler talk creates a hostile, unfriendly, and stressful demeanor. In fact, studies show that water-cooler talk can vastly improve workplace culture and employee relationships!

Employee burnout can easily go unnoticed by both the employee and their colleagues. But it can very suddenly and drastically effect an employee and their job performance. Overwork and lack of recognition can lead to frustration and make an employee wonder why they put up with all of it. A once top-performer can turn into a frustrated, uninspired, and unmotivated employee.

Job Doesn’t Match Description

Picture this: you’ve just been hired as a customer service representative – something you’re qualified for and excited to get to do. But when you start at this new position, you are actually put in the marketing department; sure, it involves customer interaction, but it’s not customer service. When this happens, it indicates immediately that something is wrong in management. Being unprepared for your job not only creates stress, but it also can adversely impact the company.

Lack of Career Development

A career is, well, a career! In most cases, employees want to be able to advance in their career, so when those opportunities are consistently denied, those employees begin to look elsewhere. It can be incredibly disheartening to be denied a position you’re qualified for – especially if the position is filled by outside talent instead of someone internal.

People like to improve; if that ability is taken away from them, their job satisfaction can – and most likely will – go down the drain.

There are many more causes of employee turnover, but at the root of them you’ll find these issues. High turnover rates are never good for a company. If you find your business suffers from high turnover, listen to your colleagues and peers, target what’s causing it, and work on eliminating the issue.