Here is an article on diagnosing the causes of turnover.
Diagnosing The Causes Of Employee Turnover
Diagnosing the key drivers of turnover is crucial if you are to reduce employee turnover. An incorrect diagnosis and your intervention is highly unlikely to succeed.
Having analysed the available data on retention and turnover, you should have a good idea on those specific groups you wish to investigate, to see if you can establish the key drivers of turnover, and put in place appropriate solutions.
There are several different approaches to information gathering. It is usually best to use a combination, providing both qualitative and quantitative data.
Personally I would recommend, depending upon the precise circumstances:
conducting a small number of interviews
followed by two or more focus groups
then a questionnaire to a wider audience
and perhaps a survey if appropriate
Interviews
A good way of discovering relevant information is through one to one interviews. For an interview to be effective it should be conducted by a neutral third party.
There are advantages and disadvantages with this method of information gathering. Its major drawback is that it can be very time consuming and hence expensive. The other disadvantage is the lack of anonymity.
The main advantage is the ability to provide much greater detail than you would get from a quantitative approach such as a survey or questionnaire.
The key to interviewing is in being able to ask well targeted questions. Remember you don't want to know why employees in general leave, you want to know the main reasons why employees in this specific group leave.
Interviews can be structured or unstructured. In the initial stages it is wise to adopt an unstructured format so you can ask additional questions for more detailed information. Keep probing for extra clarity until you feel you have reached the source of the problem.
Interviewers need to have well developed listening skills to take on board relevant information, otherwise conducting interviews will be largely pointless.
Key points
prepare questions
dig deep for the real truth
listening is vital
do a test run of your interview
Focus Groups
Using a focus group can be an appropriate way of discovering some of the key drivers of turnover.
It is a good way to acquire qualitative information, rather the quantitative data that a survey produces. Focus groups are inexpensive when compared to say interviews and take less time to prepare.
A focus group provides an opportunity for a small number of people to discuss issues relating to employee turnover and retention. An added benefit of focus groups is that they can be used to generate new ideas, discussing possible solutions as well as diagnosing causes.
For larger companies you will need to conduct a series of focus groups in order to get a reasonable sample.
Key points
Requires a facilitator to pose the questions
Restrict size of each group to between 6 - 10
Ensure focus group is representative of targeted group
Plan broad topics though leave room to explore ideas
Explain the reason for the focus group
Avoid letting one person dominate
Ask why colleagues left
Ask why colleagues stay
Ask why colleagues would leave
Ask what would keep them from leaving
Nominal Group Technique
One particular type of focus group process is the nominal group technique. This is especially useful in determining the key drivers of employee turnover.
Key points
Group size 8 -10
Representative sample
Focus on why others would leave, not why they would leave
Create trust
Integrate the data from a series of groups
Procedure
Explain the ground rules
Each member of the group is asked to write down reasons why colleagues have left
The facilitator goes round the group asking each person in turn for their first reason
The facilitator uses a flip chart to document the reasons
They then repeat for each person's second reason and so on
These lists are then clearly displayed for everyone to see
Group members are then asked to choose the most important reasons after careful consideration of all those listed
They rank these in order of importance
Scores calculated by awarding a set number of points for no1, no2 etc, then totally the number of points for each reason.
Questionnaires
Questionnaires are commonly used as part of the information gathering process. They are a reasonable way of obtaining relevant information, though response rates are often disappointing.
Questionnaires need to be designed carefully to be effective.
They should be:
easy to use
anonymous
fairly brief
Questions can be open or closed, multiple choice answers, ranking of items or checklist format.
Steps:
1. Determine the information needed
2. Choose the type of questions
3. Create the precise questions
4. Check readability
5. Design for analysis
6. Test
7. Adjust if necessary
8. Prepare data summary
9. Distribute
To improve response rates you should ensure confidentiality, provide advance warning, explain the purpose of the questionnaire and explain who will see the data.
Attitude Surveys
The use of surveys to measure employee engagement or commitment is gaining in popularity.
The research suggests commitment is a reasonable predictor of turnover if considered across a large enough group. Unfortunately surveys are not always reliable and response rates are sometimes disappointing.
One difficulty with attitude surveys is knowing which areas to focus upon. It is usually sensible to conduct some form of qualitative information gathering beforehand, in order to get an idea of which issues you should be asking about.
Surveys tend to ask the importantance of each issue, in addition to rating how the company is performing on that issue.
Retention surveys will usually ask about some of the following:
1. Resources to do the job
2. Career development
3. Relationship with manager
4. Meaningful work
5. Work-life balance
6. Learning new skills
7. Appreciation
8. Recognition
9. Relationship with colleagues
10. Company's values
11. Leadership
12. Salary
13. Benefits
14. Job security
15. Stress
16. Team working
17. Communication
18. Giving back to the community
19. Delegation
20. Everyday experience
Exit Interviews
Exit interviews are used by the majority of companies. They tend to be conducted just before an employee leaves, though some firms wait until after the departure.
Exit interviews will normally to be done in the form of a questionnaire, though one to one interviews are also used. Recent years have seen the appearance of internet based exit interview questionnaires.
Research shows exit interviews to be unreliable
Unfortunately, research shows exit interviews to be unreliable, as departing employees opt to give socially acceptable reasons rather than genuine ones.
It is rarely in the employee's best interests to give any negative reason for leaving at this stage. The need for references is often paramount, and not worth putting at risk, by giving the real reasons.
In addition, departing employees may be unwilling to devote much time to completing detailed questionnaires, resulting in incomplete answers.
The end result will often be a large number of departures apparently due to an offer they simply could not refuse, or in the wider context, career advancement.
To improve the reliability of exit interviews, it is best if they are anonymous. An unfortunate side effect of anonymity is that response rates drop.
If you are to conduct one to one interviews, it is far better to get a neutral third party to conduct them, or if that is not practical, to use HR or a trusted figure, than to let their manager or supervisor take responsibility.
Designing exit interviews
ensure confidentiality
anonymous if possible
provide a small incentive
focus on improving conditions for colleagues
Some firms opt to conduct exit interviews six months after departure. This way they have a better chance of determining the destination. This information is more difficult to obtain but may be more reliable as the references factor is less significant.
In all honesty, exit interview data needs to be treated with a large degree of scepticism. It is certainly unwise to make exit interviews your only source of information.
Summary
Exit interviews in general are unreliable
Treat with extreme caution
Involve a neutral third party for better reliability
Make sure to use other sources of information in addition
Creative Thinking
Sometimes the use of creative thinking techniques can help uncover the key drivers of turnover.
The following techniques are worthy of consideration if your information gathering has proved to be unhelpful:
Force field analysis
Mindmapping
Brainstorming
Cause and effect diagram
Conclusion
Currently most firms rely on exit interviews as their main source of information for diagnosing the causes of staff turnover. Unfortunately, research to date has shown exit interviews to be unreliable.
A far better approach is to conduct a small number of focus groups and interviews to obtain qualitative information, and then to use this information as the starting point for a wider questionnaire or employee attitude survey.
References:
CIPD Recruitment and Retention Survey 2004
Managing Employee Retention - Phillips & Connell
Retaining Valued Employees - Griffeth & Hom
Competing For Talent - Nancy Ahlrichs
Keeping The People - Leigh Branham
© Colin Brown 2004