An Evidence-Based Approach to Reducing Workforce Turnover

Hiring great people is one of the most important and most challenging things we do in our professional lives. The hardest part is often just knowing what to ask applicants to make sure we're getting the right person for the job. We know there are certain attributes the ideal employee will have, but what exactly are they and how do we test for those traits in applicants? And do it in the limited time you have? This pressure often leaves one feeling overwhelmed and even a little frustrated. 

There seems to be a current trend among employers to offer more unique and diverse office perks in the hopes of attracting and retaining talent. While perks can be fun and bring momentary happiness, they do not meaningfully move the needle on employee satisfaction or retention. One such example was highlighted by Payscale’s list of employee tenure at Fortune 500 companies, which denotes that Google, a company that offers top-notch perks, has a median employee tenure of 1.1 years.

If 80% of turnover can be attributed to bad hiring decisions, it's apparent that incorporating retention-related criteria into your hiring process is the way to truly mitigate turnover. But it can be hard to determine how much of your hiring process should focus on turnover.