Personnel Turnover and Leadership Thinking

Some people tell me that as many as 75% of all employees are actually looking for or thinking about finding a new job because they are fed up with their workplace stress.

No matter what business you're in, this turnover is going to impact your bottom line. As people lose interest in their current employment, their productivity takes a dive, absenteeism climbs, and the company takes it on the chin.

Most of these people are smart enough to avoid getting fired, but they truly don't care about the old company anymore. They are searching for a way to make a change.

It might take awhile, but your company is going to have to pay the cost of recruiting and training new people, and your productivity is going to suffer again, until the new people are fully on the job and fully prepared.

This issue caused less concern in the past because staffing levels were adequate for the work being done. Remaining staff could take on some extra work while the company scouted around for new employees. But those days are gone - gone with lean manufacturing and flat management structure.

Here are 5 things you can do to avoid the extraordinary cost of personnel turnover.

1. Find out what employees like about your company and do more of it.
   
   
2. Find out what they don't like about your company and change it.
   
   
3. Find out what employees like about your competition and see if that will work in your company. We're not talking about product competition; we're focused on what the job market has to offer.
   
   
4. Find out what's causing all the stress in your company and overcome it with solid leadership and communications strategies.
   
   
5. Find out about employee family concerns and other external stressors. Provide seminars, training, and coaching to help people overcome these stressors.

A few old-thinking managers/leaders are still around, those who think that the paycheck and annual vacation are all we owe employees. The basic compensation and fringe benefits are not enough any more, and these geezers will find themselves in trouble as the new breed walks in with a good understanding of what it takes to control stress and maximize productivity.

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Dale Collie (MailTo:[email protected]) speaker, author, and former US Army Ranger, CEO,and professor at West Point. Selected by "Fast Company" as one of America's Fast 50 innovative leaders. Author of "Frontline Leadership: From War Room to Boardroom," and "Winning Under Fire: Turn Stress into Success the US Army Way." (McGraw-Hill) Free newsletter upon request: MailTo:[email protected]