Losing employees is a significant issue affecting organizations of all sizes and should not be taken lightly. Employee attrition can have various impacts, ranging from inconvenience to business-altering productivity losses. While most companies have strategies to reduce attrition, they have varying levels of success – and even those proficient at employee retention must have a plan of action allowing for the eventual reality of employee loss. This plan must address the impact of the loss of talent and knowledge and facilitate a smooth transition between critical personnel.
Impacts of Employee Attrition
There are both direct and indirect impacts associated with attrition. Direct impacts are generally measurable, such as the resources necessary for recruiting and training new hires. In addition, other employees may experience additional workloads, which can cost the company overtime and adversely affect productivity. If the employee who left had significant customer-facing duties, their absence could result in lost revenue or customers.
Indirect impacts of attrition are less visible but can have even more effect on corporate processes and overall profitability. These indirect impacts may affect the following areas:
Corporate, operational experience, and tribal knowledge: Long-term employees have gradually acquired knowledge specific to their job. Losing an individual employee can represent the loss of this acquired knowledge, which is not easy to replace. While new hires may have industry experience, they rarely have knowledge specific to the internal workings of their new organization.
Departmental dynamics: Many employees are in collaborative environments, working in teams to achieve company goals. The loss of a key employee can affect the team’s smooth operation and result in a loss of productivity.
Employee morale: When employees move on from the organization, the colleagues left behind may experience a loss of enthusiasm and engagement. While this effect may not be immediately noticed by management, it can adversely impact productivity.
Culture: Employees who have been with the company for a long time are often great examples of organizational culture. The loss of these employees can result in an erosion of the culture, especially as new hires come in. While new thoughts and ideas are often positive in many ways, collaboration and engagement may suffer.
Productivity levels: As employees become more comfortable and familiar with their roles, they are more effective and productive. Therefore, productivity can be adversely impacted when a long-time employee leaves and a new hire takes their place.
Capturing Employee Knowledge
One of the best ways to mitigate the loss of a key employee is to document and store their knowledge. More specifically, have your team members become contributors to your organization’s knowledge by sharing what they know and have learned. In doing so, you improve employee engagement as well.
The most critical employees to recruit for collecting tribal knowledge are easy to identify – they are the ones most often asked to mentor or train new hires or provide expertise on projects. By preserving their knowledge in a centralized location or knowledge base and providing easy access for all employees, you help streamline knowledge transfer. Not only will this process save your knowledgeable employee time and allow them to fully concentrate on their official job, but it also retains valuable information should they ever leave the organization. This documentation may take the form of video training, prerecorded town halls, interviews, or online forums that new hires or employees in new roles can reference.
These methods essentially “clone” one person’s expertise and make it available to everyone who needs it. This is the driving principle behind the KLONE Organizer. This powerful online platform aggregates your most critical operational, performance, and strategic knowledge, delivering it where and when it is needed most without adversely affecting the productivity of your key employees.
While some employee attrition is unavoidable, losing the valuable knowledge they hold does not have to be. Call KLONE today to learn more about preserving and documenting best practices to ensure your company’s success well into the future.