Not Yet Quittin’ Time: Keeping Employee Retention Top of Mind

Every once in a while, the Internet explodes with excitement over a certain kind of scandalous story that we all seem to love: people quitting their job in a very epic way.

Remember the flight attendant who got on the intercom and cussed out the passengers, grabbed two beers from the galley kitchen and slid down the inflatable evacuation slide, never to be seen again?

Or maybe you've heard about the coffee barista who sang 'I am quitting this job today,' backed up by a barbershop quartet, to his surprised bosses and coworkers?

How about the guy who decided to follow his dream to be a professional cake baker, and used his talents to create an edible resignation letter?

We all laugh about these (and maybe some of us have secretly dreamed of following in their footsteps), but these stories are way less funny when you flip the lens around and think about being on the receiving end of the quit.

In addition to losing experienced employees and possibly being understaffed, it costs a business some serious bank when people quit their jobs - turnover estimates range from 16 percent of annual salary for high-turnover jobs earning under $30,000 a year, and 20 percent of salary for positions earning between $30,000 and $50,000.

These costs come from the extra recruitment efforts, including advertising; using management's time for interviews and vetting; the wait for a new employee to ramp up to full productivity; training; and lower engagement from other employees, who see turnover and may question why people quit - and may even decide to seek new employment themselves.

You also face potential customer service issues, if new drivers take longer to get to customers or are unsure how to problem solve on the spot, for example. And your customers might get used to the same tech, and wonder what happened to him when they stopping seeing him - or worse, if they're always seeing a new person. Think about how that looks to your customers - it may make them question whether they want to do business with your company.

There are steps you can take to improve driver retention, however. Here's our round-up:

• Ensure employees are appropriately trained and fully understand how to complete their job duties, and establish clear performance metrics. If they feel like they're constantly in the dark on what's expected of them, it creates a stressful work environment.
• Review performance regularly and give feedback. Management should be sitting down with drivers at least once a year for a formal review, but you don't need to wait to deliver all feedback at once - just make sure you balance the good with the bad.
• Provide solid benefits like decent health insurance and vacation time - but the little things count, too.
• Create growth opportunities. Your field techs shouldn't feel like this job is just a placeholder - give them a reason to think that they can rise up in the ranks by being promoted from within. Employees are more likely to stay engaged and committed to a company that they feel is invested in them as well.
• Make everyone feel like they have something to contribute. Encourage an open-door policy on ways to improve the company, or hold quarterly 'town hall' meetings or forums that let people discuss their new ideas.
• Consider an incentive program. By creating friendly competition among field techs, you motivate them to do their jobs better.
• Give employees the tools that they need to do their jobs well. Technologies like GPS vehicle tracking help drivers get to jobs via the fastest route, accept and learn details about job orders from anywhere via mobile device (without having to waste time on phone calls to dispatchers), keep them safe in the event of a carjacking, prevent vehicle breakdowns, give historical proof of arrival/departure times (which will protect them from any customers who try to say a driver fudged on-site times), and comply with regulations.

GPS fleet tracking software helps drivers do their jobs to the best of their ability, which means that every driver has the opportunity to be the top performer in a company, and helps them feel proud of their work. (Not to mention, it makes it easy to track performance, in the case of bonuses and incentive programs).

So if you don't want to go down in epic quitting story history, check out more about how GPS vehicle tracking can improve employee retention.

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