11 Powerful Questions to Prevent Turnover | 2-Minute Video

Turnover stinks. Regardless of the situation or reason, turnover usually leads to more headaches for HR pros — offboarding, paperwork, hiring, onboarding …

So you want to prevent turnover as much as possible. And some powerful questions — asked by front-line managers or even HR pros — can help.

Use Powerful Questions

The first key is to step in before employees become too disengaged. We’ve done another edition of the 3-Point on the signs employees are becoming disillusioned with their job and how to save them from leaving. Check out How to Spot and Save the Disillusioned Hire | 2-Minute Video on our YouTube channel.

Then, once you know it’s time to step in, you can re-engage employees with a series of questions that get at the heart of the matter.

What’s Up in This Episode

In this episode of HRMorning’s 3-Point, our expert and colleague Colin Drummond, the executive vice president at Successfuel, explains how he has consistently overcome turnover issues by stepping in when he sees employees become disengaged. He has a powerful series of questions that help uncover issues and create solutions.

Click, watch and listen for more details on powerful questions that can boost employee engagement and curb turnover.

Transcript (edited for clarity):

Turnover hurts. And the pain isn’t going away.

In fact, Gallup found that turnover risk is at its highest point in almost 10 years.

But there’s good news: Almost 45% of employees who left jobs recently said the company or their boss could’ve done something to stop their exit.

Point is, you can prevent turnover … if you do something when employees become disengaged.

My colleague here at HRMorning, Colin Drummond, has headed up teams in roles known for high turnover for decades. And he has consistently bucked the trend.

How? First, when an employee seems to be disengaged, he asks the How and What questions.

Colin Drummond: “How do you think things are going? And what ways are you finding the job difficult? When you go home at night, what kinds of things does your significant others say about your new job? What do you say? How would you describe your job to your best friend? What are things you say to your friend that you like about the job? What is it that you say to your friend that you don’t like about the job? Those kinds of things open people up and you know, they begin to spill their guts a little bit about what they’re truly feeling about the job.”

Now, let’s say an employee comes clean, says they’re done. They want to leave.

Drummond: “So the first thing is to make sure that the employee understands that they’re not alone. Everybody goes through it, including you. And that gives them some relief that it’s not them. Everybody goes through it. And then you begin to ask questions like, What is it about the job that is most difficult for you right now? What is it about the job that goes relatively well for you? What can I do to help you through this process? I would like to see you get to the point where you’re enjoying the job more. There’s nothing more I would like to see. How can I help you?” 

That’s the key, helping employees before they think quitting is the only option. To get ahead of turnover:

• Dig deep. Find out what they’re telling the people they care about most.
• Reassure them. Tell disengaged employees they aren’t alone. Even you have been there – and overcome that.
• Offer help. Make sure they know you want them to be happy and you can help them get there.

Turnover will always happen. But you can prevent it by stepping in early and with the right questions and compassion.