6 Essential Training Strategies to Reduce Employee Churn

Boost employee training initiatives to improve retention efforts

While employee turnover rates—sometimes referred to as employee churn—have rebounded since the pandemic, the lingering costs remain. Beyond layoffs and dismissals, organizations continue to struggle to understand why employees leave voluntarily. Controlling costs, boosting productivity, and retaining talent has become a high priority for those left scratching their heads when employees rethink their options.

So, what sets apart organizations that have reduced, or are even immune to, employee churn in the post-pandemic environment? The answer to stronger employee retention lies in better training methods that boost employee engagement initiatives and present clear opportunities for growth. Similarly, encouraging employees to join informal communities of practice outside the workplace can have a lasting impact on employee retention.

In this post, explore the challenges organizations face when employees leave, and learn 6 training strategies to increase employee satisfaction, strengthen company culture, and reduce employee churn.

What is employee churn?

Employee churn isn’t the same as employee turnover. In fact, we’ll need a third term—employee attrition—to accurately define it. We’ll start with turnover.

• Employee turnover refers to the percentage of employees that leave—whether voluntary or involuntary—in a certain period of time for which the company is planning to rehire.
• Employee attrition refers to the percentage of employees that leave voluntarily in a certain period of time for which the company is not planning to rehire for.
• Employee churn is the combination of both turnover and attrition, providing an overall view of who’s coming and going.

What challenges does employee churn present to organizations?

Organizations faced with high percentages of employee churn often find that they’re always trying to catch up. The negative impact of attrition, turnover, and churn can be compounding, making it harder and harder to stem the bleeding once it starts. The cost to replace lost employees is just the beginning.

The challenges that accompany employee churn are many, including:

• The cost. On average, it takes 6 months to break even on a new hire, increasing the need to keep employees around. For a skilled, frontline employee, that cost can be upwards of $40,000.

• Early retention. 30 percent of new hires leave within 90 days of being hired, demonstrating how important it is to engage employees even during the hiring and onboarding process.

• Expertise gaps. Frequent turnover means it’s difficult to maintain a core group of experts, leading to more training and mentor costs down the line.

• Culture drain. With employees going in and out the door, it’s difficult to cultivate and maintain a positive company culture, or, at the very least, a consistent one.
• Damaged brand. If it becomes public knowledge that a company has a high employee turnover rate, top talent will know to stay away, and clients will inevitably catch on as well.

What causes employee churn—why do employees leave?

Like any good Sherlock Holmes mystery, we aren’t so much interested in the crime itself—that part has often already happened—as we are the motive. Why did it happen, and how could it have been prevented? Similarly, uncovering the reasons why talented, top-performing employees leave is the key to preventing employee turnover.

While reasons for layoffs and dismissals are fairly straightforward, it’s the employees who voluntarily leave that have managers and HR most frequently looking for innovative ways to keep talent around.

Besides poor compensation, the reasons an otherwise exemplary employee might leave are many, including:

• Poor company culture. A recent study found that company mission and culture matter more than salary to job seekers. A poor company culture can not only push employees out the door, but may be what’s blocking the entrance in the first place.

• Lack of growth opportunities. Humans may be creatures of habit, settling into routine both at home and the workplace. But if there’s no room for growth within a company, employee motivation may decrease, and external opportunities might start to look more attractive.

• Bad leadership. We’ve all had managers and directors whose leadership style—or lack thereof—created tension in the workplace. Whether it leads to low employee morale or a breakdown of critical hierarchy, bad leadership can have an exponential effect on retention.

• Lack of recognition. When employees are doing their job well but don’t get recognized, they may begin to think they’re underappreciated. Worse, they might not even recognize the good work they’re doing, leading them to look for other opportunities.
• Insufficient feedback and mentorship. Alongside recognition, feedback—whether positive or constructive—keeps employees engaged. Without it, they’re unaware of growth opportunities, their productivity may plateau, and that other job offer might start to look attractive.

Your proactive solution to all the challenges above may lie in your training strategies. From day one, training sets the tone, with the potential to build long-lasting relationships, positive work culture, clear opportunities for growth, and continuous learning.

6 essential training strategies to prevent employee churn

1. Promote a positive workplace culture

Employees who feel welcomed, valued, and respected are happy employees. And happy employees stick around longer. While growth opportunities and feedback come into play down the line, a positive workplace culture should be cultivated from day one. Astonishingly, but perhaps not surprising, 80 percent of employees who have an unsatisfying onboarding experience plan to quit.

To promote a positive workplace culture through training, implement microlearning modules that remind employees of company values consistently, increasing job satisfaction. Delivering content using microlearning gives you a variety of options for content medium and strategies. It could be an interactive diagram that allows employees to type in their own personalized interpretations and examples of company values, filling in one per day over a week’s time.

2. Present clear growth opportunities

When clear opportunities for growth are presented to employees, they’re more motivated to work towards specific goals. Provide a clear development plan for advancement and upskilling, and employees will recognize that the company is willing to invest in their growth. Providing a compelling career path—something only 1 in 4 companies do—can keep talent around longer.

To present clear growth opportunities through training, offer upskilling in both technical and soft skills areas. Align training to match specific qualifications for positions within your own organization. Employees who not only level up their expertise but their people skills as well become more well-rounded, productive employees while increasing career development opportunities. Continuous learning is part of a positive workplace culture, one that invests in personal and professional development.

3. Train leadership skills for all

When we think of leaders, we may only think of C-suite employees or managers, but the fact is that when every employee is equipped with leadership skills, the whole organization benefits. It’s inevitable that leaders exit organizations for other opportunities, which is all the more reason to make sure that those who are stepping into their shoes have the leadership qualities they need to succeed.

To train leadership skills for all of your employees, create a soft skills training program that covers basic leadership skills, and a standalone leadership training program for employees craving growth opportunities. Leadership training doesn’t just improve the way managers lead those on their team. Those in non-leadership positions benefit from knowing when to act, how to act, and how to address challenges, both personal and professional.

4. Use data metrics to ensure timely recognition

After my 5th grade football season, I was awarded with a trophy for most valuable offensive player of the year. To this day, I still remember the moment it was announced in the Davanni’s party room. It’s possible I remember it because pizza was involved, but the fact is that I still display the trophy, despite its being smaller than a grapefruit.

Recognition for employees can similarly leave a lasting impact on their motivation, increasing their desire to keep growing & learning. Establish meaningful success metrics that track employee progress through training and on-the-job. That way, you’ll be able to track employee performance and milestones, making it easier to implement timely recognition for their successes.

5. Set up feedback and mentorship

In my early days as a teacher, amidst the many new hire trainings and professional development sessions, the best measure of where I was at in my teaching journey came during peer feedback, observations, and mentor meetings.

Peer observations confirmed my skill and uncovered my potential for growth. Mentor meetings served as a safe space to vent and get sage advice on how to survive. The benefits of consistent feedback and mentorship apply to any discipline, giving employees space to bond with coworkers, bounce ideas off of each other, and have a guiding hand in times of need.

To implement timely feedback through training, use a learning management system (LMS) that’s able to measure training activity and create individual or group reports for easy distribution. Set up weekly or monthly mentor-mentee meetings where they go over available shared data, provide feedback, and share wins & challenges.

6. Encourage employees to join or start a community of practice

Defined, a community of practice is a group of individuals with a shared interest who collaborate openly, share best practices, and further their field of study. While it won’t be a formal part of an employee’s training experience in the workplace, being part of a community of practice can help rekindle lost passion, cultivate a strong sense of belonging, and expose your employees to diverse perspectives they’d otherwise miss.

Additionally, communities of practice often act as alternative mentorship programs, providing an outlet for continuous learning outside workplace norms. The growth your employees gain from being part of an informal, like-minded community outside of work will translate to growth within the workplace.

More often than not, communities of practice take place on online forums and discussion boards. Take, for example, E-Learning Heroes, our own community of practice for instructional designers. There, they can access user guides, course creation tutorials, participate in e-learning challenges, and discuss ideas with other professionals.

Invest in employee training to reduce employee churn

As current and potential employees look for positive company culture and opportunities for career advancement, it’s more important than ever to engage your employees with top tier training strategies. Microlearning modules, soft skills training, and leadership development courses are a great way to show employees that you value their current and future contributions to the company.

While it may—and should—take place outside of formal, in-house training, encouraging employees to find and join a community of practice can have a lasting, positive impact on retention as well. Those who do so will encounter unique solutions, diverse perspectives, and a renewed sense of passion for their craft—all of which will benefit their daily work.

Ready to learn more about how training content can keep employees engaged, motivated, and confident? Check out how online learning and development programs enhance employee engagement by offering personalized, flexible, and continuous learning opportunities.