I wish I had a dollar (or 2) for every time I have been told by a BSC that they don't have time to train their employees. The most common statement goes something like this, "Why should I train them, they'll leave in a week or two anyway?" And my answer is, "You bet they will leave if that is the attitude you take toward the most valuable asset you have, YOUR EMPLOYEES".
There is no question there are a certain number of employees that will grab a paycheck and run or will take a job and not show up for work the first night or walk off the job after they get there. I suggest to you that more often than not, the reason these events occur is because of our failure to communicate properly the requirements of the job, the training needed, and the important part these play in providing customer satisfaction.
Let me spend some time here making a case for taking the time to hire properly, train properly, and communicate properly. The points we make will be extremely critical to the success (or failure) of your business and we'll discuss them in greater detail in the next blog session.
Retail stores and manufacturing facilities have a tangible product as their inventory to sell to their customers. Our inventory is the employee we place in the customer's facility to clean it for them on a regular basis. I don't mean to compare a human being with that of physical inventory in a store but the analogy is important in order to illustrate the importance of the employees you have in your organization.
When you walk into a grocery store you expect the inventory to be top quality. Don't your customers have a right to expect the same from you?
In the contract cleaning industry, the average turnover is approximately 325%(I was told recently that is is 350%) per year which means for the employer that has 100 employees they will make 425 W-2s at the end of the year. Pretty overwhelming, isn't it? What about your company? Take the time to check your turnover rate. I'll wait until you come back.
Okay, now that you are back, what is your turnover rate? For those of you considering starting in this business or have an emerging company, this area can cause you a lot of headaches and heartburn.
Let's look at the economic impact high turnover has on our companies. Studies have shown the cost of turning over ONE employee in our industry costs about $525 computing all of the expenses involved with recruiting, orientation, and training, etc.
Now going back to the illustration of 425 W-2s needed to staff 100 employees at 325% turnover, the cost to your bottom line is $170,625 per year. That's a pretty big number no matter who you are.
Okay, so you only have 10 employees and made 42 W-2s last year. It only cost $17,062. Getting the idea that turnover is expensive?
So what's the answer to reducing turnover and providing quality, stable "inventory" for our customers? Studies have revealed that the major reasons that our employees leave are,
1. Nobody told them what to do.
2. It appears that there is no room for advancement in the organization.
3. Nobody ever compliments them on a good job.
4. Nobody TRAINED them on the specifics of their job.
5. No benefits.
Did you notice that pay is not at or near the top? Surprised?
In our next blog we will address each of these items and how we can solve the problem in order to reduce turnover and increase our bottom line AND customer satisfaction.
Later and MAKE IT A GREAT DAY. Hope to see many of you at our Selling Contract Services workshop in Orlando March 6.
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