Understanding, calculating and preventing high employee churn rates

What’s the difference between employee churn rate, attrition and turnover?

The distinction between employee churn rate, attrition and turnover lies in their underlying causes and implications.

Taking all three metrics into account allows HR professionals to understand not only the rate of departures but also the impact of those departures on the overall workforce.

Why calculate and analyze employee churn rate?

Employee churn analysis helps determine patterns and underlying causes of employees leaving. During analysis, organizations collect data on factors like tenure, department, roles and reasons for leaving to spot trends.

Effective churn analysis enables data-driven decision-making, leading to improved retention, employee experience and organizational stability. It provides insights into workforce stability and indicates patterns of personnel leaving, helping management and HR address areas of concern and facilitate retention strategies.

7 common causes of high employee churn rates

1. Poor work culture and management

Forbes describes a toxic work culture as one where employees “don’t feel valued, respected or supported,” citing factors such as high stress levels, poor communication from management, lack of trust and few opportunities for advancement. Toxic work environments can begin with poor direction from employers (with a trickle-down effect to employee level), or it can start from the ground up.

C-suites need to provide a clear company vision, communicate consistently and provide constant support for employees. They also need to make sure that they hire motivated workers with positive attitudes towards the company culture and job scope — otherwise, employees may demotivate each other and spread negative opinions that may lead to higher employee churn rates.

2. Lack of career growth opportunities

While keeping company roles updated in a fast-moving marketplace can be a challenge, companies that fail to define clear career progression paths risk high employee churn.

Employees thrive in environments that foster growth and advancement. Without proper updates and clear direction, employees may seek opportunities elsewhere; a report by Work Institute shares that in 2022, 22.3% of employees left their company for better career opportunities.

3. Inadequate compensation and benefits

Fair compensation — including salary, commissions and bonuses — is crucial for employees, as many equate its financial value to their efforts and output. Benefits are an additional value-add, and oftentimes they’re a factor that employees consider when choosing to join or leave a company.

If compensation is below industry average or significantly disproportionate to employees' perceived effort, staff may feel undervalued and seek better-paying positions. Not offering benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans or paid time off can also lead to employee dissatisfaction, higher turnover and difficulty attracting new hires.

4. Lack of work-life balance

What constitutes work-life balance, or lack of it? Each employee defines the ideal work-life balance differently based on how much leisure and work time they prefer per week; regardless, several factors can be linked to it. These include high work demands, low control over their own jobs or tasks, unequal workload distribution and inflexible work arrangements.

Employees tend to resign when faced with little to no autonomy over their professional and personal lives, affecting employee churn rates within the company.

5. Inflexible work arrangements

Some institutions are still hesitating to adopt remote work policies due to productivity and security concerns, collaboration communication difficulties and processes that aren’t easily adapted for work-from-home arrangements. 

But from an employee perspective, remote or hybrid work arrangements can greatly improve staff working experience. Staff have more flexibility and agency, spend less time and money on daily commutes and have mutual trust with employers. Employees who don’t have these privileges at work may start looking for other companies that do offer such flexibility. 

Companies should leverage the many digital tools available in the market to establish remote communication processes and facilitate virtual collaboration.

> Read more | Fortifying your organization’s remote workforce management

6. Lack of recognition and appreciation 

Positive recognition and appreciation are crucial for boosting employee morale. Recognition involves providing feedback based on results or actions tied to employees' achievements, while appreciation represents a simpler, more personal form of feedback. 

It matters when management shows employees that their successes in the workplace have made an impact. When leaders fail to acknowledge achievements, recognize the value of their people, share constructive feedback and provide opportunities to develop skills in the workplace, employees may feel unappreciated, demotivated and ready to seek alternative employment. 

7. Ineffective training and onboarding

Sometimes, employee journeys end sooner than expected. A survey by The Harris Poll found that nearly 10% of employees in the U.S. left a company soon after joining because of poor onboarding experiences.

To ensure effective onboarding, employers should provide timely resources, tools and training for new hires. This includes accurate employee documentation management, warm employee welcomes and assistance in adapting to tasks and the work culture. Without these measures, employee onboarding and training can be significantly affected.

Technology can streamline the hiring and onboarding process by enabling smooth communication, collecting paperwork and facilitating the employee's transition into the company and their team — even when done remotely.

How a high employee churn rate harms organizations

It’s important to look out for and determine the cause of high employee churn rates, as they can be detrimental for several reasons: 

• Lack of workplace stability: High employee turnover can disrupt strategic stability in organizations. Frequent staff changes can alter strategic direction, posing challenges to maintaining a consistent long-term vision and strategy.
• Disruption of team dynamics: Frequent turnover disrupts workflow and productivity, as departing employees leave gaps in knowledge, skills and experience that need to be filled by new hires. Current hires will need to relearn and adapt their working styles to suit new team members. All of this can lead to decreased efficiency and performance across teams.
• Higher costs: These costs are mainly associated with recruitment, onboarding and training of new employees. High turnover also negatively affects productivity as fresh hires require transition periods to pick up new skills. 
• Loss of institutional knowledge: When workers leave, they take with them institutional knowledge and skills that cost companies time and money to replace. This loss of knowledge can hinder organizational performance and innovation.
• Damaged company reputation: Companies with high churn rates may struggle to attract new talent or retain customers due to perceived instability linked to company culture, leadership or employee satisfaction issues.
• Lowered employee morale: Witnessing high churn rates can leave current employees feeling uncertain and anxious about their own future within the company. They may find themselves with a higher workload to compensate, disrupted workflows and uncertain career direction, leading to more staff leaving out of dissatisfaction. 

Recognizing the impact of high employee turnover is key for businesses to enhance retention strategies, create a positive work environment and ensure long-term success.

How to reduce employee churn rates

To maintain long-term success within today's competitive business landscape, it’s crucial for organizations to act immediately once high employee churn rates are detected. Here are steps business leaders can take. 

Make use of employee churn analysis

Companies should already be making use of employee churn analysis, which can help:

• Identify patterns among departing employees
• Pinpoint and understand the specific challenges faced regarding employee retention
• Develop and facilitate strategies based on these detected pain points

Enhance employee engagement

Employers should implement strategies to raise staff morale, including:

• Conducting regular employee engagement activities and feedback surveys
• Engaging in meaningful dialogues with staff about their concerns and aspirations within the company
• Making sure employees are equipped with the right technology and applications to do their job and communicate effectively; 94% of highly engaged employees found that the right technology and equipment helped them do their job, as opposed to only 42% of less engaged employees

Offer competitive compensation and benefits

By offering competitive compensation and benefits packages, companies demonstrate to staff that their contributions, well-being and satisfaction are valued. Organizations can do this by:

• Regularly reviewing, researching and adjusting salaries and benefits to align with industry standards and employee needs
• Offering performance-based incentives, like bonuses
• Providing comprehensive benefits packages that include health insurance and coverage, retirement plans and other nontraditional benefits to differentiate themselves from other companies

Provide clarity over career development opportunities

Employees are more likely to stay with organizations that invest in their personal and professional development. Companies should:

• Offer training programs and mentorship opportunities, as well as develop and outline clear paths for career progression in line with changing industry landscapes
• Encourage skill development through learning and development programs and provide opportunities for employees to take on new challenges and responsibilities
• Regularly align with staff on workplace expectations and strategize for well-planned pathways to retain top talent

Foster a positive work culture

Business leaders can address workplace toxicity by:

• Creating an inclusive and supportive work environment through honest, open communication to make employees feel respected and valued
• Promoting work-life balance, emphasizing adequate working hours, checking in regularly on staff workloads, and adjusting team and department sizes accordingly
• Establish regular feedback mechanisms such as employee surveys and one-on-one feedback sessions to gather input and make continuous improvements

Implement flexible work arrangements

Versatile work options acknowledge the diverse needs and life circumstances of employees, greatly enhancing job satisfaction and retention. By offering remote work options, companies can also tap into a larger talent pool. It’s important that organizations:

• Take the necessary steps to ensure that their remote work policies are effective and efficient, with smooth communication channels
• Set clear expectations for remote workers, encouraging a healthy work environment and establishing proper guidelines
• Provide the necessary tools and resources for successful remote work

Improve onboarding processes

A well-structured onboarding process can significantly reduce early turnover and lower employee churn rates. Companies can enhance onboarding by:

• Ensuring new hires are welcomed, receive adequate training and are integrated into the company culture
• Tailoring the onboarding process to individual needs and job roles
• Providing technological support and implementing digital measures to streamline administrative onboarding tasks and provide resource accessibility for new staff

How good document management plays a role in reducing employee churn

Effective document management plays a significant role in reducing employee churn organization-wide, starting with the epicenter of resource management: The HR department. 

Effective HR document management involves providing a streamlined, organized system for HR staff to access valuable information. Digital employee file management systems allow for centralized storage and version control of all company documents, making it easier for HR to sort, securely store and locate up-to-date employee information. 

Good document management supports the HR team throughout the entire employee lifecycle, from contracts to compliance, freeing up more time to focus on employee welfare and provide smooth onboarding experiences. With remote work becoming the norm, having a reliable document management system ensures

HR employees have access to the right documents and resources — giving new employees a smooth head start to their roles.

> Read more | 7 reasons your HR department needs a content services platform

For other departments, digital document management solutions improve access to information, streamline workflows, promote collaboration and communication and ensure compliance and risk management. This creates an efficient, meaningful and productive work environment for employees, reducing the risk of employee churn due to job dissatisfaction. 

Revolutionizing employee retention: How Hyland’s intelligent document processing solution changes the game

A robust document management solution should provide a comprehensive suite of features that work together to effectively process, organize, store securely and identify digital assets, which in turn empowers organizations to efficiently manage their document lifecycle and ultimately drive productivity and business success.

Hyland’s Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) software is an advanced intelligent document processing software that leverages AI for document classification, processing and intelligent data extraction efficiently and without much manual intervention.

By automating these tasks, Hyland IDP reduces the amount of time employees spend on manual classification and indexing, giving them the ability to focus on more meaningful work, and in turn increasing job satisfaction and reducing churn rates — and giving business leaders better autonomy for decision-making.

HR employees have access to the right documents and resources — giving new employees a smooth head start to their roles.

> Read more | The future of intelligent enterprise is AI-powered intelligent document processing (IDP)

Discover Hyland’s IDP