Is Employee Turnover Costing You "Big Bucks?"

Is this what you experience? A new hire completes training, begins work, and quits a short time later. Do your exit reveal that the employee quitting says they just cant handle the shift schedule, whether the problem was an inability to sleep during the day, conflicts with family responsibilities, or another reason.

Shift work and turnover seem to go hand-in-hand. Turnover is almost three times higher at shift work facilities than the U.S. average. It costs 24-hour facilities dearly when an employee leaves. An estimated cost of replacing an employee (including recruiting and training costs) the average replacement cost is $24,100 per an employee.

Most companies currently have no programs in place to prevent turnover due to shift work-related problems (i.e. adapting to schedule, work-life balance, sleep, health, etc.) there exists a great opportunity to achieve significant savings for shift work operations.
So what can be done to lower turnover rates at your operation? Below are some some of the best practices you can consider for implementation. Best practices for reducing turnover rates:

1) Provide shift work lifestyle training to new hires.

2) Shift schedule selection method. Not surprisingly, an employee’s attitude toward their work schedule plays a significant role in determining their morale level and likelihood of leaving.

3) Overtime. When overtime rates climb above 20%, there is significant decrease in morale and productivity and a spike in absenteeism and turnover rates. Therefore, companies must be careful to monitor average overtime rates for their workforce and take caution when overtime rates start to creep into the high teens.

4) Pay. Not surprisingly, the most common program used by shift work facilities to reduce turnover is a periodic increase in salary.