A tight labor market and a shrinking pool of talented workers make “I’m quitting” some of the most dreaded words a small business owner can hear.
Staff turnover is a fact of life, but it’s particularly painful at small companies competing with larger businesses for workers. Owners learn they must make staff retention efforts a priority – including mentoring or changing workplace policies – and do some soul-searching if turnover increases.
When five out of 22 staffers left Dash Design last year, owner David Ashen understood that some naturally wanted to move on to new challenges. But he also discovered after talking to employees that they felt the culture in his New York-based interior design company had changed since he brought in a new business partner. Ashen realized he needed to help employees feel more connected to the business, and focused on mentoring younger staffers.
“We ask them, where do you want to be in six months or three years, and create a path to do that. When we failed to do that, people were less satisfied in their work,” he says. Ashen has also started letting workers have flexible schedules and bring their dogs to the office.
Many companies find that a staff can be stable for some time, and then several employees leave at once. And with fewer employees, small businesses aren’t as able as big corporations to shuffle assignments when people leave.