5 Ways to Guarantee a Decrease in Employee Turnover

Decrease Your Janitorial Service Employee Turnover!

If you’ve experienced any amount of employee turnover, you can understand the areas that are affected by anyone leaving your facility. From cost, value, safety, and quality of service performed to employee health and morale, there really isn’t any part of your workflow that isn’t affected by a constant stream of new faces. In the janitorial industry, the average rate of turnover is 200%. While this high percentage is considered normal, it shouldn’t be! Beyond natural reasons, like wage issues and hours scheduled, turnover could be stymied if the majority of janitorial service companies were more stringent about utilizing some ‘best practices’ adopted by the rest of the industry. Unfortunately, however, a lot of business owners can’t be bothered with the issues at hand, so they continue to handle their business as they always have, including losing part or all of their staff repeatedly.

The Real Cost of Employee Turnover

You can look at cost one of two ways: the cost you have to pay for the physical side of your business (like inventory, employee salaries, etc.) and the cost you have to pay for the revenue side of your business (like losing customers). Either way, all of these aspects are threatened by employee turnover. Think about it in an if/then format:

From the physical side:

• If you have constant turnover, then your budget is constantly up and down – there’s no constancy for you or the rest of your staff.
• If you are losing staff members more than hiring solid prospects, then your financial and time commitment to the hiring process (recruitment, background checks, drug screening, reference checking, etc.) will wane, leaving you open to issues and bad hires.
• If you are continually firing and hiring or aren’t doing your due diligence when hiring new people, then you are putting yourself, your facility and your other staff members at risk of an intruder or a possible scam.
• If people know they’re going to be fired or they aren’t going to have their needs met, then they are statistically more likely to steal from or lie to a current employer, which could lead to stolen inventory or fraudulent behavior.

From the customer’s side:

• If your customers are constantly seeing new faces, then they will not feel very secure in handling business with you.
• If your budget or pricing aren’t secure or standardized, then you won’t be able to gain traction with new leads.
• If you hire less qualified or experienced staff members to save money, then you’re risking the level of quality for the services you provide, leaving customers with a bad taste in their mouths.

While these may be some extreme examples, they still present the same fact: employee turnover is not a cost you want to pay!

What Can You Do?

Is your business stuck in an employee turnover rut? Here are 5 ways to guarantee a decrease in the level of employee turnover for your business:

1. Hire Well: Many contract-cleaning companies are now placing a higher value on selecting employee candidates who have a positive attitude over experience or training; the better the attitude, typically the more willing the individual is to stay on the job and learn something new.
2. Provide Exceptional Training: Studies have shown that many new staff members feel more of an obligation to a company that spends time and resources on quality education and training programs – training can breed loyalty.
3. Offer Competitive Benefits: Introducing creative benefits packages and programs can greatly reduce employee turnover. Subsidize as much of the health insurance premiums as you can. Implement a flexible PTO policy. Offer paid parental leave and short-term disability. The more you can offer, the more likely an employee is to stay.
4. Let Employees Have a Voice: While it is not always feasible, workers should be involved in as many of your business decisions as possible, especially if it affects their position. Encourage workers to share their likes, dislikes, and other input so they feel like a part of the business family.
5. Provide Recognition: Whether it’s monetary bonuses, written compliments, or vocalizing your appreciation, your staff needs to hear whether or not they’re doing a good job. They need honest, supportive feedback in order to focus on the tasks they have to complete, rather than worrying about whether or not you’re happy.

Are You Up to the Challenge?

Another way you can decrease employee turnover is by making sure you’re using all the best tools at your disposal to run your business. If you are looking to upgrade your business management, it’s time to give us a call at Janitorial Manager. Our management software program was built to handle any and every aspect of your cleaning business, and when the business side is organized, your employees and customers will thank you! Give us a call or schedule a free demo today!