To limit employee turnover, you must offer your employees opportunities for growth and development. Online learning is the best way to do it.
Business owners, CEOs, and HR professionals know just how disruptive and costly employee turnover can be.
According to a report published by Gallup, the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one and a half to two times the employee’s annual salary.
Given an average annual overall turnover rate of more than 26% in the U.S., a 100-person organization with an average salary of $50,000 could have turnover and replacement costs of approximately $660,000 to $2.6 million per year.
Voluntary turnover has a direct cost, but there may be other impacts as well. Losing high performers can mean losing customers, productivity, and profits. Excessive turnover can ultimately affect company morale and reputation – making it difficult to recruit new employees.
Add today’s highly competitive labor market to the mix, and turnover can be highly detrimental for any organization.
How to reduce employee turnover
High employee turnover is costly and disruptive, but avoidable. What steps can organizations take to limit employee turnover?
Experts cite offering competitive pay and benefits and maintaining a healthy company culture as two important employee retention strategies.
Studies reveal that employees also value the opportunity to grow on the job. According to a 2018 LinkedIn report, 94% of employees stay at their jobs longer if they received employee development opportunities. A 2018 report by Gartner similarly found that 40% of employees leaving voluntarily indicated that a lack of career development was a reason for their departure.
Provide opportunities for growth and development
It makes good business sense to offer employees opportunities for growth and development. Doing so benefits both the employee and the organization.
So, how can an organization best provide growth opportunities for employees? Learning and development – often referred to as reskilling or upskilling– is the answer.
Upskilling refers to the process of taking skills and knowledge to a new level and is primarily focused on helping employees become more skilled and relevant at their current position within the organization.
Reskilling, on the other hand, refers to learning new skills for a different job.
Both reskilling and upskilling are key for employee growth and retention. Helping to ensure that employees are continuously learning, adapting, and acquiring new skills means that organizations can avoid many of the financial pitfalls associated with high turnover.
Why online learning is the way to go
LinkedIn reports that the number one reason employees say they are not engaging in workplace learning is because they don’t have the time.
Typically, organizations have relied on mentorship and in-house, in-person training programs to foster employee learning and development. While these are effective approaches, talent developers are depending more and more on online learning solutions to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse, multi-generational workforce.
The trend toward online learning has accelerated during the pandemic and there is likely to be no going back. Online learning offers several advantages over other learning methods. Most importantly, online learning is flexible. Employees can study from their desk (or from home), eliminating travel costs and time spent away from the office.
Another advantage is that pre-recorded online courses and modules allow people to learn at their own pace. Organizations can also reduce scheduling conflicts for employees by repeating live courses on various dates and times.
Without the need for travel, setup, and scheduling, there is less downtime associated with online learning. Even better, recorded courses and modules can be accessed indefinitely, by as many (or as few) people as needed – and everyone receives the same content.
Online learning also provides an opportunity for greater participation and engagement by more people than traditional face-to-face events.
The NWI Learning Hub
Given the increasing popularity of online training and the benefits it provides for both employees and organizations, we recently launched the NWI Learning Hub to be your source for convenient and cost-effective online training.
Our debut course, The Innovation Master Class, is for anyone who wants to explore the power of “disruption” and learn how organizations can remain competitive, reach new target markets, and reduce the risk of innovation.
The Innovation Master Class is offered in two versions – Lite and Pro. You can also preview the course for free and discover how to get ready for the next wave of change.
Over the next few months, more courses and workshops will be added to the Learning Hub. Whether you are looking to upskill or reskill your team, the NWI Learning Hub is your “go-to” resource
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