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Employers Respond to High Turnover

Responding to a recent survey of 94 organizations in the U.S. with nationwide operations, 37% of employers report an increase in the past six months in the turnover of front-line employees. These are workers salespersons, customer service representatives, and other sales and support staff, all of whom are usually a customer’s first contact with a business. Additionally, 31% of employers report an increase during the same time period in the turnover of workers seen as having high potential due to background, testing, and performance.

The study, conducted by ClearRock, an outplacement and executive coaching firm headquartered in Boston, finds that more than half of employers have implemented new or revised programs to retain each of these types of employees. The findings also show that operations and production workers are the most difficult among both front-line and high-potential employees to retain.

• 84% of employers say their new or revised retention programs have been successful in retaining high-potential employees, while 81% say these efforts have been successful in retaining front-line employees.
• 62% of employers say their efforts to retain high-potential employees have been more successful than the average for their industries, while 30% say their retention methods have been equally successful as the industry average, and 9% less successful.
• 46% of employers say their efforts to retain front-line employees have been more successful than the average for their industries, while 43% say their retention methods have been equally successful as the industry average, and 13% less successful.