The average U.S. employee turnover rate is 3.6%, according to Insignia Research. In other words, 36 out of every 1,000 employees can be expected to leave a role in a given year. To improve team performance without burnout, organizations must focus on strategies that enhance employee engagement, recognition, and well-being.
The rate is much higher in certain sectors, however. The most vulnerable industries, according to Insignia, see turnover rates above 10%.
Some amount of employee churn is inevitable. People voluntarily leave jobs for all sorts of reasons, not all of which reflect poorly on the employer, and employers of course must make difficult but rational decisions to eliminate underperforming employees or trim headcount to preserve margins.
What neither side of the negotiating table wants, however, is turnover due to low morale or outright burnout. Managers and employees alike have a shared interest in improving individual and team performance without asking too much of one another.
“A single exit can cost a company a third of that person’s salary,” Insignia says. “For high-churn roles, the impact adds up fast.”
Here’s what you can do as a team, division or company leader to hold up your end of the bargain and help your team reach and sustain peak performance.
Many employees will say they don’t crave recognition, that they’re happy to toil in anonymity as long as you continue to pay them. Far fewer mean it, though.
“Individuals are more likely to burn out when rewards are lacking — when they are not properly compensated or acknowledged for their work,” says Heide Abelli, management professor at Boston College.
Your first order of business, then, is to make sure you regularly acknowledge your employees’ work. You can do this no matter how large your organization grows if you have a strong supporting team around you and are willing to make an effort to appear in person.
Consider leaders like David Miscavige, who frequently graces public events celebrating the work of those he leads across a global organization. These events occur all around the world, but Miscavige makes it a priority to attend regardless. Many other executives do the same; once it’s part of the routine, it feels very natural indeed.
Next, find a workable balance between allowing team members to work autonomously and holding them accountable for their work. Many employees chafe at being micromanaged, with some going so far as to “throttle” their performance, intentionally or not. At the same time, experts say it’s a mistake to hold employees to high standards without a commensurate increase in responsibility.
“Individuals feel a lack of control when they are micromanaged or when they are given accountability without adequate power,” Abelli says.
To strike this balance, you must consider the needs of each individual. Again, your supporting team can help; a well-run HR unit can do wonders for employee morale.
Not so much in the “compliance” sense of the term. After all, every employer is bound by applicable state and federal laws around access, discrimination, safety, paid time off and the like.
No, in this sense, responding positively to reasonable requests for accommodation means something like “being reasonable without allowing yourself to be taken advantage of.” This is another matter that’s specific to individuals and situations, but the heart of the matter is that a “my way or the highway” approach serves no one within the organization. You must use your formal power (and leverage) over your team members sparingly and in good conscience.
You may be the leader of your team, but you’re human just like everyone else. You, too, need honest feedback.
Don’t wait for it to come unsolicited in the heat of the moment. Seek it out. Welcome it. Do this by following a “two-way meeting” format, where regular check-ins with employees take the form of conversations and not edicts. Ask for suggestions that can help you do your job better, and the organization run better.
What good is honest feedback if you don’t act on it? When warranted, implement your team’s suggestions, whether through a tweak here or there, or a full-bore policy change. One sign that this may be necessary: You hear similar complaints (or constructive criticism) from multiple individuals, offered independently.
No team runs optimally around the clock. However, by making these simple changes in your management style, your day-to-day workflow and the policies and expectations you set for your team, you can get more than you ever thought possible out of those you lead without pushing them (or yourself) too far.
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