If you don’t like my business, there’s the door.

Staff turnover is a constant business headache — people are chopping and changing jobs like never before! It’s time to take hold of the reins and improve your staff retention so that you can build a better trade business.

Staying in a job for 30 years and then retiring is dead. But the reasons your tradies keep quitting may surprise you. Because more often than not, it’s YOU, not them. 

It’s essential to take those rose-tinted glasses off and look at;

— Your day-to-day operations. 

— Your behaviour and attitude.

— How your salary packages stack up against competitors.

These things can be tough to self evaluate. The best thing you can implement is exiting interviews and quarterly team review surveys! 

What is an exiting interview? 

Exiting interviews can be awkward, but they are necessary for you to build a better trade business. They are an interview or a survey you provide to an employee when they decide to leave your company. 

It should capture their reason for leaving and give you a better understanding of their decision. 

Questions to ask: 

  • Overall did you enjoy working for us? 
  • How effectively do you think your skills were utilised? 
  • How helpful was your position in stimulating 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? 

The only way to minimise staff turnover is to understand what is causing it. 

Prevention is the best medicine.

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? 
  • How well do you rate your personal 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 staff; 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.