And stop spinning your wheels…
Direct and indirect costs
It is estimated that it costs 33% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them — but it can go as high as 150%.
The costs aren’t just financial. Losing people hits team morale hard, impacts productivity and can be destabilising for customers. (These impacts can all be felt at a financial level too.)
There is an enormous impact on the team members who are left behind as they cover for the outgoing team member. The team spend time training the newly recruited team member and helping them to settle into their new role.
Leadership is key to retention
Your people have the power of choice. Whether they stay or leave is a choice, and leadership can be the deciding factor.
As a leader, you create the environment for your employees — is it one where they can thrive or is it a battle to survive? Your behaviours and actions set the standard for the entire organisation. Leaders should be transparent, approachable, respectful, and willing to listen to ideas and opinions for the organisation’s culture to flourish.
As a leader, you can choose to be visible, present and engaged — recognising that your employees are humans first, not just resources. This does not mean micro-managing. It means the opposite. Being a leader that values genuine connection ensures that you can build strong, trusting relationships that empower your managers and teams to be accountable for each other.
Why people leave
I’ve written before about people leaving leaders, not organisations, and there are some clear trends in the factors that prompt an employee to think: “Do I really want to be here?”.
Key considerations include:
- Feeling stuck with no development opportunities
- Not empowered
- Lack of clear expectations
- Poor communication and feedback
- No recognition
- No reward.
Your role as a leader has never been more important to ensure these conditions don’t exist in your business. Purpose and belonging go hand- in-hand and must be backed up with actions, not just words.
In retail especially, we are approaching the time of year when it is crucial to have strong teams of engaged and connected people working towards a common goal.
