If you’re looking for a goal that will actually help your company’s bottom line, here’s one:  reduce employee turnover.

The top reason employees leave a company isn’t for money.

 “It’s because of poor management,” says Cindy Ventrice, a Costco member and author of Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works (Berrett-Koehler, 2003).  “Reduce burnout and you reduce turnover.”

Taking steps to keep employees around isn’t complex or expensive – and these common-sense steps are very easy to adapt to:

• Clarify and communicate your company values and goals.  Employees can handle challenges best when they understand the purpose and value of their work.
• Reward behaviors that promote your organization’s values and goals.  Not only do employees want to do work that is of value, they want to be valued for that work!
• Offer employees control over how they accomplish goals.  The worst burnout occurs in jobs that have high responsibility and low control.  Provide the assignment and, whenever possible, let employees decide how it gets done.

There is a simple equation that even a math dunce can understand:  “One enthusiastic employee working 8 hours will accomplish more than two burned-out employees putting in 12-hour days.”