We’ve all lost good employees.
They hand in their resignation letter and then they’re gone — it can be heartbreaking to lose a good staff member, they were reliable, dependable and great at what they did.
It’s even MORE frustrating to lose a NEW employee. You’ve just spent the last few months getting them trained up, and then POOF they’re gone. It feels like such a waste of time and money.
So the question is, why did they leave?
Often we’re left scratching our heads, assuming somebody else just offered them more money, because surely it has nothing to do with you, because you run an awesome trade business.
The Harvard Business Review, in their article “Why Employees Stay” notes that the reasons why people stay in their jobs are just as important as the reasons why they leave them.
“Reasons for job satisfaction include achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth, and other matters associated with the motivation of the individual in his or her job. Environmental pressures inside the company include work rules, facilities, coffee breaks, benefits, wages, and the like.” All impact on a person’s decision to stay or leave.
Therefore it’s critical to understand WHY that employee has decided to leave, and what factors could have potentially swayed the decision. Every situation is different, so the best way to ensure you get all the information is to implement exit interviews.
What is an exit interview?
In a nutshell, it’s a questionnaire (physical or digital) that an employee completed as a part of the resignation process.
Exiting interviews can be awkward, but they are necessary for you to build a better trade business.
People usually give the most honest answers when they provide these digitally, as it can be hard to give truthful answers whilst you’re sitting across from them — Our suggestion is to make this an online questionnaire.
The purpose of the interview or questionnaire is to capture their reason for leaving and give you a better understanding of their decision. Every individual situation will be different, so this is a great opportunity to get a picture of your company through an employee’s eyes.
We’ve done the hard work for you and compiled a short questionnaire below. Ideally this questionnaire or interview should only take 10+ minutes to complete. It’s supposed to give you short, insightful answers so that you can see where the peaks and falls are in your trade company.
Questions to ask:
- Overall did you enjoy working for us?
- How effectively do you think you utilised your skills?
- How helpful was your position in developing your professional growth?
- How well were you paid for the work you did here?
- How would you rate the relationship you had with your supervisor?
- How would you rate your relationship with co-workers?
- What was your main reason for leaving?
- Was there something you felt we could have done better?
Prevention is the best medicine.
The hard truth is, the only way to minimise staff turnover is to understand what is causing it.
You don’t have to wait until somebody quits! Share an anonymous survey with your team quarterly to track their overall happiness at work.
Questions to ask:
- How would you rate us compared to other companies?
- What would you do to improve the company?
- Do you enjoy working for us?
- How well do you rate your professional relationship with your superiors?
- Do you feel you are getting the most out of your role?
- Are you satisfied with your work?
- Do you believe your pay accurately reflects your level of work?
These can be challenging questions to ask, but anonymous surveys often yield the most honest answers. This can be tough with a small team; however, it might just give you the nuggets of golden information you need to make the right business decision.
So get on top of your turnover, ask the hard questions and build a great relationship with your staff.
If you’re struggling to get on top of your staffing issues, check out our Free live events ‘Lifestyle Tradie Live’ TODAY!
