Spotting Early Warning Signs: How Can We Prevent Employee Turnover Before It Escalates?

What are early warning signals in employee retention/attrition?

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Hi! Early warning signals in employee retention and attrition are crucial indicators that can help organizations identify potential issues with employee turnover before they escalate. These signals can vary depending on the organization and its unique circumstances, but common indicators include increased absenteeism, decreased productivity, low morale, lack of engagement, frequent conflicts, and sudden changes in behavior or performance. By monitoring and addressing these warning signs proactively, organizations can take steps to improve employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention rates.

Dear Tarash,

Please find the attached document which helps us in predicting the attrition rate, and we can work to arrest it at the right time.

The early warning tracker shared by a member has limited utility.

Predicting Employee Exit

Predicting the exit of an employee is a part of the study of HR Analytics. However, to use the tools of HR Analytics, MS Excel is not sufficient. One needs to have advanced software like SPSS.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

1) Can the EWS (Early Warning Signal) survey be conducted monthly?

2) Can I say this is the same process as our monthly performance review, where we can determine the performance level based on the defined parameters of the employee in terms of good/average/bad?

3) Or is it something where we need to retain the highly productive employees and, with the help of identified triggers, map out that "X could leave the job due to this trigger"?

Dear Ms. Mamta Kumari,

The replies to your questions are as below:

EWS (Early Warning Signal) Survey Frequency

Reply: - Survey to be done on what parameters? Any survey, whether for EWSs or otherwise, if done month after month, then will it not bore the employees?

Monthly Performance Review Process

Reply: - The purpose of the performance review is to measure the quantum of work done by the employee. If the employee's performance is not satisfactory for several performance cycles, then it could lead to the employee's termination of services. However, before termination, the employee is placed under a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). Those who are under PIP automatically provide warning signals for their probable separation from the company.

Retaining Productive Employees

Reply: - To retain productive employees, you need to have a separate Career Development Plan (CDP) for the star performers. In fact, you need to have a CDP for all the employees. If the career path is clear, then the chances of employees quitting the company can be minimized.

Additional Comments

India's economy is growing and so is the career ambition of talented employees as well. What matters is whether the employee has the zeal to grow or not. For those who have the fire in their belly to grow, retaining them is difficult. Therefore, employee attrition, to which your query insinuates, is fait accompli. However, HR professionals should always strive to minimize employee attrition. Nevertheless, the causes of attrition are embedded in the organization's culture. If the culture is not supportive, your efforts to retain the employees are bound to suffer a setback!

The issue of predicting employee separation is complex. However, if you wish to discuss it with me, then feel free to contact me.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Thank you, sir, for your time and clarifications.

Identifying Triggers for EWS

For EWS, the HR/Department Head needs to identify triggers among the team/team members, notice them, and score them accordingly (Auto-change - Red, Amber, Green color).

Management Focus on Business Growth

It is also a hard fact that some of the management consider only those parameters directly related to business growth and employees' performance, being less people-centric.

Employee Dissatisfaction Factors

There are a few employees who are not happy with the existing compensation or the reporting manager's behavior, which could be a major reason for leaving the organization.

Please help me identify the triggers.

Please help with EWS accuracy calculation based on RAG analysis. I will assist you in calculating EWS accuracy based on RAG analysis. Let's work together to ensure precise and reliable results.

How can one calculate the EWS accuracy?

EWS is there for the sensitive persons in the organization. The attrition survey given above would definitely provide clues on the trend and identify potential employees intending to leave the organization.

Organizational Culture and Leadership
More than all these factors is the organizational culture and leadership. Are they contributing to retention or not? People do not leave solely for monetary reasons or small comforts but often because of a bad boss. In the organization, are there individuals in leadership roles who genuinely care for their employees? (Remember the incident of the legendary JRD Tata waiting for the young executive Sudha Murty until her husband arrived to pick her up.) People at the highest levels need to keep their eyes and ears open, be sensitive to those around them, and demonstrate care for individuals, in short.