Controlling Turnover – Job Fit

By Nicole Martin | February 14, 2024

Article brought to you by BestWork DATA

 

Unwanted turnover is expensive and disruptive to the operation of any enterprise. The good news is that is it is largely unnecessary and easily controllable using the BestWork. The primary cause of turnover is poor job fit. That is when the employee’s hard-wired personality traits and cognitive abilities do not support the job behaviors necessary for success in a particular job. Some examples of this :

  • A reserved, impersonal manner when warmth and friendliness is needed
  • Quick learning speed when the job is essentially routine
  • Loose attention to details when details are critical
  • Tendency to make exceptions when consistency with procedures is key

If an individual’s job strengths do not match the ones needed, no amount of training can make the job fit. There is no way to manage the problem. No culture will change it. Motivation cannot help it.

The BestWork Job Report identifies job fit issues quickly and easily. If any of the Critical Job Behaviors are missing, this will not be a good job for the employer or the job candidate. If the challenge is in the Important Job Behaviors, then training and management may be sufficient to support the necessary job performance.

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Some examples :

A. Coca-Cola call centers – Three call centers were experiencing 50% – 70% turnover. Agents were trained in an intensive one day class followed by a test. Candidates that passed the test were hired. The job was taking inbound calls from restaurants needing more syrup for their soda machines. BestWork showed that the only candidates that could pass the test after the intense training class had a fast learning speed. The job itself was routine and boring for them, and their efforts were soon directed at finding new job. BestWork showed them how to hire candidates that could acquire the training knowledge and handle the routine of the job. Turnover across the centers dropped 30% to 40% using BestWork.

B. Northwest Pest Control – This 50 year old firm was always profitable, even while dealing with the same turnover challenges that plagued the pest control business… that of finding and keeping the technicians that provided the service to customer homes. Spraying bug juice was just not seen as a desirable job and that was accepted as a truth in the industry along with the 100+% turnover rates. BestWork enabled Northwest to focus specifically on the Critical Job Behaviors needed for the job. This was the priority rather than subjective interviews and other non-objective elements.

    • Strict compliance with regulations and procedures
    • Close attention to details
    • Ability to handle the routine of the job

These were absolute. Others were important :

    • Moderately friendly (smile but limited conversation with customers)
    • Strong time management
    • Patient and relaxed

With BestWork as the primary factor in selecting candidates, the turnover dropped to 10% (Extraordinary by any standards).

C. Chick-fil-A Store – The fast casual restaurant business is typically a turnover hot spot with turnover in excess of 100% being common. The exception is Chick-fil-A, whose management style and employee treatment is superb yielding an industry-leading 56% turnover rate. BestWork designed a model process using behavioral DATA which reduced the industry-leading number to 42%. This was simply sorting front of house hires into those roles and back of house hires into those roles. BestWork enabled them to put people into the jobs they best fit.

The reality of behavioral DATA is that it easily reveals job fit for any position. Once that is known, management has the information necessary for making effective hiring decisions that immediately impact turnover.

Posted in BestWork DATA