Always Filling the Same Positions? Here’s Why
Employer Articles / July 6, 2023Table of Contents
It’s certainly not uncommon for any company to suffer from high turnover rates. The cost of that can be astronomical for a business. According to the Gallup.com article, This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion, “a 100-person organization that provides an average salary of $50,000 could have turnover and replacement costs of approximately $660,000 to $2.6 million per year.”
Of course, proposed solutions for high turnover rates are no secret. Typically, they can be creating more open lines of communication with staff members. Talking to them about the challenges and frustrations they face at work, the tools and resources they need to do their job, and what their career goals are. Essentially, build trust with employees.
A Typical Turnover Challenge
But all of this well-intentioned advice tends to gloss over one common occurrence with high turnover rates: the need to constantly refill the same role or roles.
If there are specific positions within an organization that have particularly high turnover rates, it’s a strong indication that there’s a real internal issue at play. After all, there’s a limit to how many times a new hire “just isn’t a fit.”
Even if that’s the case, it reflects badly on human resources managers as well as the hiring manager when the same position is repeatedly filled with people who are “poor fits.” At this point, it’s worth assessing the situation. A good starting point is exit interviews.
Staff who voluntarily exit a company are more likely to offer some degree of honest feedback in an exit interview. This could be a prime opportunity to learn exactly what’s causing the high turnover in this role.
Simple Solutions
The issue could be a simple question of resources. It might also be a communication issue or a challenge with a third party that the team member oversees. If there is an issue with an account, a client, or a vendor that the position is responsible for managing, it would be prudent to review that business and determine if the value that it brings the company outweighs the long-term costs of replacing staff. Alternatively, that third party might be better managed by another staff member with more seniority.
There could also be an issue with the manager for that role. Of course, the path to recourse is much simpler when it’s a relatively low-level employee who commits an infraction. When managers pose problems, there’s more at stake.
A difficult manager certainly won’t reflect well on those involved in hiring the person. Other supervisory team members may become jittery when they know a peer is being reprimanded or let go. No doubt, management can be more difficult to replace.
Recognizing Toxic Managers
Leadership is never easy. If all signs point to a toxic manager, it’s essential to consider the impact that their management style and behavior are having on the overall business.
If they are driving out staff, there’s also a high probability that clients or vendors do not have strong working relationships with that person and that team. Also, don’t underestimate the fact that laterally, other team members may also find this person a challenge to work with.
At what cost is the company willing to keep on a noxious member of management? There’s the cost of turnover and potentially the added cost of losing clients or replacing third-party vendors. Is he or she also alienating other members of the team and consequently causing project delays?
Situations like this require human resources professionals to have a plan in place in order to navigate these choppy waters. Having a conversation with a challenging manager is a good starting point. Find out what’s causing their behavior. Map out several concrete steps for improvement.
If that doesn’t work –or maybe even in tandem—look at an outside leadership program that the person could benefit from.
When all else fails, it may be time to reconsider the manager’s role. Perhaps they simply aren’t a fit for the organization or maybe they are better suited to a position with fewer responsibilities.
Other Team Members
However, it is entirely possible that management has nothing to do with why people keep leaving a specific position.
The root cause of the problem could also be another employee. If another team member is consistently unhappy at work, it will spill over and affect the entire team.
It’s imperative that human resources not only identify discontented team members but also find out the cause of their displeasure. This could be any of the aforementioned reasons for people leaving a role; a lack of resources, a challenging client or vendor, or he or she could be that “poor fit.”
Another scenario is that the person is seeking a promotion or has been passed over for a promotion. Companies are too often inured to the consequences of passing someone over for promotion without proposing any steps that he or she could take to move up the ladder in the future.
If they are not viable candidates for higher-up positions within the organization, it may take them some time to figure this out for themselves since management is not likely going to tell them directly.
Once they are aware of the situation, the employee is very likely going to become difficult to work with and there will be ripple effects.
Why poison your own well? If he or she is adequate in their role, surely they have some potential. Why not look for ways to leverage that? Perhaps the professional path that he or she sees themselves on at the organization is not the best path for their skill set. But if they’ve proven themselves in their current position, then they can no doubt add more value to the organization if the talent is cultivated.
