How 3-week catch ups reduced our turnover*

Upon discovering that our turnover was beginning to increase in the early stages of a new employees lifecycle (within the first 3 months), we began to look at the reasons why this was occurring. With only the data from their exit survey to go by, we realised we needed to gather more data, and sooner to prevent staff from leaving before they even had a chance to settle in.

Looking at this issue from a communication point of view, we knew we needed to stay in touch with new staff from a HR level. Given our current setup, staff usually meet with the same HR person through the recruitment and induction processes, so it’s only natural they will build the most trust and confidence with HR. With this information at hand, we decided to implement a ‘3-week catch up’ to better stay in touch with our new staff, but also discover any issues that could have arisen during their first few weeks.

From these catch ups, we identified a number of issues that we wouldn’t have otherwise known about (either due to a lack of confidence to tell anyone, or that feedback not being passed up from lower-level managers). These included:

• Improvement for on-the-job training
• Inconsistent training between different locations/departments
• Standard Operating Procedures needing updates
• Cultural concerns
• Other issues associated with performance deficiencies

The data we gathered was then used for further training needs both as part of our induction process and future training within the organisation. Almost immediately we saw our new staff turnover decrease, and efficiencies improved within the business in regards to staff performance, training and culture. Not only does it improve your business from a process point of view, but it shows to your new staff that you are committed to them and value their feedback.

It’s important to remember that these discussions should be informal in nature, and focus on environment where feedback is encouraged. Use some questions as a guide for consistency, but allow the employee to talk for the most part.

For a simple 30 minute catch up with our staff, these have already contributed to thousands of dollars in productivity improvements and turnover savings.