Control staff turnover

There is a strong business case for developing your staff as it will help ensure that your business runs smoothly and with consistently good results. You should also be able to reduce high rates of staff turnover by training your managers to lead and motivate your staff.

Invest in staff training and development

Although helping staff develop their existing skills and learn new ones can cost your business time and money, training and development is crucial to improving your business' performance and can actually help minimise high rates of staff turnover.

This is especially the case if your staff see that what they are learning is relevant to them and the business, and they can readily put their new knowledge into practice.

It's important that your staff training and development policy is fair and clearly understood by your staff as early as possible in their employment. If they know that you will spend time training and developing them, they will feel valued and are more likely to continue working for you.

Training and development can be delivered by experienced workers through on-the-job training or from external sources such as training organisations or consultants. See staff training.

Leadership and people management

A positive business culture can influence the retention of staff and is often defined through leadership. You can foster leadership skills in your staff that will promote a culture they want to belong to.

People who feel good about their development and contribution to the business are likely to reflect this in their performance and how they interact with colleagues and customers. They help drive the business forward and develop other workers.

Finally, remember that good people management helps retain valuable staff. A poor relationship with a manager, who may be skilled in other areas, is one of the main reasons why workers decide to leave. Therefore, you may want to train your managers to coach and supervise other people.

See using mentoring to increase employee performance.