Part advice column, part career resource, we are here to answer your questions about job searching, hiring, culture concerns, recruiting, and business in general. If you have a question you want us to answer, submit it HERE. Be sure to tune in every Monday as we answer the questions that YOU want to know the answers to.
Q: Our company is experiencing high turnover in blue collar employees. How can we adjust for that kind of employee turnover? What are we doing wrong?
According to studies done by the Center for American Progress, 76% of blue collar workers are looking for a better job opportunity; 48% are actively looking and 28% are open to something better if it should come along. Even with high national unemployment, strong job growth within blue collar sectors may be the reason why workers are asking for more and more money. And that is the reason why most people leave their current jobs: they want better pay. Pay is the number reason why workers end up leaving their job and most employees left their last employee for a job that pays more.
Unfortunately, this rate of turnover can negatively impact a company. It’s estimated that the average cost of turnover for a blue collar worker is about 16% of the annual salary. This is because empty shifts generally equal to lost revenue. So if the hourly rate is $14, each worker who leaves is costing the company $4,569, which obviously adds up. How can this be prevented?
In an environment of high demand for workers, competitive pay is key. By budgeting for pay increases for a portion of your positions, you will find that you have a better chance of employee retention, especially over a longer period of time. That $4,569 that you lost on employee turnover? You can use that instead to offer a pay increase to those same workers, keeping them happy, improving their productivity, and limiting the chance of them leaving your company.
Another way to help with turnover is to work with a company like Advanced Hires. Advanced Hires primarily recruits for IT and other technology roles, but has often helped place people for non-IT roles as well, including in blue collar jobs such as supply chain and manufacturing. Working with us will help you find people who are good culture fits, have the right skills, and are looking for the things your company is offering. Working with Advanced Hires is a no-brainer! You can contact us today for more information.
