Hide and nurture a team to reduce turnover
by Shivani Gupta,
Newcastle Herald Small Business Column,
published Monday, 20 December 2010
It was a difficult decision but I had to let one of our employees go this month. She didn’t have a great relationship with other stakeholders in the business.
Good working relationships are paramount in any business. Poor working relationships are often magnified in small business, as they were in the situation I faced.
Of course good working relationships among your staff are not only essential for the sake of your staff but also for customer service and your bottom line.
A 2008 study on workplace conflict found that U.S. employees spent 2.8 hours per week dealing with workplace conflict. This amounts to approximately $359 billion in paid hours (based on average hourly earnings of $17.95), or the equivalent of 385 million working days.
As a general rule, employee turnover will cost between 50 and 200 per cent of an employee's annual salary.
Prevention is always better than cure. You can help to avoid costly workplace problems and rehiring of new staff by taking the time to hire the right person. When small business owners hire staff, it is not just about how good they are going to be with the boss and at their job. They also have to be able to get along with and work well with other co-workers. Personality profiling tools such as Myers-Briggs can help you to see what sort of people you have in your team and where the gaps or potential for conflict exist.
For busy small business people, it is easy to ignore or not even see poor working relationships. Take time to look for conflict. Some businesses have formal conflict and grievance handling procedures. At the very least, you should try to foster a culture of open communication between you and your staff.
If feedback is coming about one of your staff and you really like them, you have to do some investigation. Do not delay.
Performance management may be necessary. It can be as simple as pointing out the issues to the staff member and agreeing on changes. Make sure you record them. You may need to get some outside help here, which can be cheaper than losing key, valued staff.
My four tips for ensuring teamwork, not turnover are:
- Think about how a person will fit into the team when you hire them
- Look for any conflict within your team
- Investigate conflicts objectively
- Performance manage people without delay.