Employee Turnover Key Terms

Some key terms for handling and preventing employee turnover

By J. Stoltzfus, writer/programmer LOCAL CITIZEN

Employee turnover is a constant problem for many companies and occurs any time a worker or staffer leaves a business. There are many reasons why individuals leave their companies, all of them with unique solutions. Over time, smart companies have begun to think a lot about how to stop each kind of employee turnover from happening, or to mitigate turnover in various ways. Knowing about some of the main key terms around strategy will help a business fight turnover the right way and keep its company healthy.

Work/life programs

A work/life program is a program set up to help workers deal with juggling the demands of their jobs and their home lives, or to correctly balance any kind of work duties with their family lives or lives away from the job. Many companies are using work/life programs to help deal with the challenges employees face, to battle high turnover in a business. Work/life programs can be especially helpful to salaried employees who may feel they are being flooded by their responsibilities.
Try: Find out more about work/life and programs at Alliance for Work/Life Progress.

Team building

One strategy for controlling high turnover is team building. Successful team building binds people together and help employees to feel connected to the group and like they're productive members of a community.
Try: Find out about team-building secrets for reducing turnover at Professional Team Building: "Unleashing the Power of Human Potential."

Incentives

Another main tactic of managers and business owners is to keep workers by providing incentives. An incentive, on a basic level, is anything that gives workers a reason to stay, be it a bonus, gift, or other type of benefit.
Try: Find out more about incentives (number five in this article) for battling turnover at Seven Secrets of Minimizing Agent Turnover.

Employee retention

Employee retention is a way of cutting down on turnover by keeping the workers that a business already has. There are numerous strategies for employee retention that fit into an overall program for making sure that turnover costs don't swamp a company.
Try: Find out more about tips for employee retention and turnover reduction at Top 7 Business.

Exit interview

Another big tool for reducing turnover is the exit interview. An exit interview is generally held between a departing worker and an HR staffer. The exit interview can clue the company in to why employees are leaving and what can be done to prevent more turnover in the future.
Try: Find out more about using an exit interview to help fix turnover problems from Exit Interviews.

360 feedback

In terms of combating turnover, another huge aspect is in feedback. Employees need feedback to know where they stand in their job roles, but a business also needs feedback from employees. To facilitate all of this communication, business leaders came up with what's called "360 feedback"-holistic communication for keeping a company healthy.
Try: Find out about 360 feedback and its roles in reducing turnover at 360 Feedback.