Danny Dotson
One of the biggest struggles HR professionals face is communicating the cost of employee turnover to executives. Why? Turnover and employee disengagement don’t appear as a line item on a budget but are reflected in poor sales and customer service, as well as lack of customer retention, among other things.
Yet, determining employee turnover cost is an important aspect of both employee retention and improving company-wide progress. When executives understand the dollar amounts when employees leave or aren’t engaged, and how that impacts the company as a whole, they are more likely to pay attention and work to change the trend. To get change from the top down, it is important to understand how to effectively communicate employee turnover cost.
HR teams often focus on engagement scores and turnover percentages. Instead, focusing on cost, executive buy-in is achieved. Executive-level engagement in dealing with employee turnover leads to more effective results and ultimately better retention rates, cost-saving practices, and deeper employee engagement.
What is the true cost of employee turnover at your company? There are a lot of factors to consider, but ultimately, finding a way to translate turnover percentages into true dollar amounts will allow you to present cost values to your executive team. Factors to consider are how much it costs to train each employee, how long they need to be employed before that cost is mitigated, and how much time and money is spent on recruiting new employees when retention rates are low.
Bringing these numbers to the forefront will allow you and your team to better navigate employee turnover cost and find solutions to the trend of turnover and disengagement. The true cost is in loss of business and customer trust. Is it time to make a change in your business?
