Must you have 0% employee turnover?
"When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home." Betty Bender
I've noted that I've enjoyed 0% turnover in my small businesses but I must clarify. I have had employee turnover but I'm the one who turned them over - meaning I fired them. I'm not in the business of hiring and firing people as a hobby. I take it very seriously, as any leader should. I know I'm dealing with someone's livelihood. The ones I have released were not aligned with our culture and values or I had lost trust in them - sound reasons to remove an employee. Moreover, I take ownership in the failures of these employees. I should have picked up on their flaws in the interview and onboarding process.
High turnover percentages are an embarrassment for any company. I've always looked at high turnover as a leadership problem. People don't leave their company, they leave their boss. The epidemic of bad leadership caused by a lack of training and education on leadership in academia is the root cause, in my assessment, for most company problems. Indeed there are some who don't care - who see people as a resource such as motor oil, to be used then discarded. Some see people only through the lens of payroll. In those cases they ought to expect high turnover.
I don't believe we should look for perfection. It is hard to predict the behavior of an individual, especially as pressure at work or at home increases. A prospect may show their best side in the interview and in the early days of their employment before they turn sour. If leadership is doing its job, it will monitor employee performance certainly in terms of job skills but more importantly in terms of the company values they ought to espouse and, of course, trust.
Quick to hire, slow to fire is what I see often. A leader, especially one who hired the employee may be reluctant to fire the person because it may reflect poorly on them. Leaders may also fear a vacancy in a position and slow-roll a firing. Good leaders will see beyond bad calls and potential vacancies and remove people for the good of the greater organization. Good leaders will learn from failed employee experiences to better themselves for the next hire.
0% turnover or the right people on the team? I vote the latter.
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell