4 Ways to Reduce Turnover From the Start

What exactly is the cause of high turnover in businesses? The real reason isn't likely what you think it is. It starts well earlier than someone leaving, even before they actually accept the job role. And for the most part, that excess turnover is preventable. While businesses should expect some level of turnover, if you're experiencing high levels, then you can turn things around by making a few simple changes.

Write a Clear, Specific Job Description

A vague job posting sets a new hire up to be surprised by their actual responsibilities within the first few weeks. Listings that focus on generic qualities rather than the specific tasks, tools, and outcomes tied to a role tend to attract candidates who form the wrong picture of what the job entails.

You can avoid this by naming the exact responsibilities, reporting lines and performance expectations upfront, which reduces the number of early exits caused by a mismatch between what was advertised and what the job actually is. From here, don't forget to include an accurate and realistic salary range so applicants who aren't happy to accept this won't reply.

Run Background Checks Before Extending an Offer

A hire that turns out to have misrepresented their experience or history rarely lasts long once the gap has been identified. And the resulting turnover can happen as quickly as a few days or weeks into their employment.

The fix here is to use services such as Direct Screening so you can run employment, criminal, and identity verification checks before giving them an offer. This means you know who is welcome on board and you're not likely to experience any problems arising from these areas once they become an employee.

Set Clear Expectations During Onboarding

New hires who spend their first few weeks unsure of what is expected of them are far more likely to leave in the first six months than someone who has a good idea of their job role and any expectations of them.

A structured onboarding process that lays out specific goals for the first 30, 60, and 90 days, along with who the new hire should go to with questions, gives them a clear sense of what success looks like early on rather than leaving them to guess. On top of this,sif you check in to each of the milestones, you can make sure things are on track, and any concerns are dealt with and addressed accordingly.

Offer a Clear Path for Growth

Employees who can't see where a role leads tend to start looking elsewhere once they've settled into the day-to-day work. Outlining what advancement could look like, whether there's a defined promotion timeline, additional responsibilities, or opportunities to develop new skills, gives employees a reason to stay beyond the initial paycheck.

Make it a point to have regular check-ins with your employees about growth based on their job role and what they want, rather than leaving it as part of an annual review, as it's highly probable by this point they're already looking for opportunities elsewhere.