The Wall Street Journal has reported the results of a recent survey that shows that nearly half of U.S. workers are dissatisfied with their jobs. A full third of those surveyed indicated that they want to quit their jobs.
During the last few years of the recession, employers may have been dealing more with reducing staff than recruiting staff. Now that there are signs that the economy is reviving, although sluggishly, employees who once thought that they had no option but to stay at the job that they hate are now thinking they can escape that job.
Here are the top 5 things an employer can do to address and be prepared for employee turnover:
- Address morale issues as they come up in the workplace — addressing morale issues not only helps prevent turnover in the first place, it can also help reduce harassment claims. Harassment claims often stem from more vague claims such as "my boss is unfair" and "my co-workers are mean."
- Re-evaluate salaries and salary increases that may have been put on hold — again this addresses the morale issue, but it is also a good time to evaluate pay discrepancies between men and women in similar jobs, which could lead to claims under the Equal Pay Act.
- Re-examine operations — do you actually need to replace the person who quit? This may be time to streamline operations and an opportunity to cut costs.
- Have employment applications reviewed by counsel to insure that they are in compliance with federal and state laws — the biggest issue is making sure that they do not ask for improper information, i.e., what year did the applicant graduate from school as that could reveal the applicant’s age.
- Train all managers who will be interviewing applicants on how to interview — this may seem like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised at how many people ask improper questions like, "this job requires travel, do you have small children at home that would prevent you from traveling?"