The high turnover rate in marketing and PR agencies, especially, is a major challenge, impacting efficiency, morale, and the future of the business.
High turnover rates aren’t only costly. They stifle consistent innovation and fresh thinking. These are essential for making marketing campaigns successful. But what’s the alternative? Organizations must create a culture of development and stability while retaining their best employees.
Learn how to turn obstacles into opportunities for long-term success. This blog will explore techniques and new ways to reduce and manage employee turnover in agencies.
Why do employees quit their jobs?
Over 50 million employees quit their jobs in 2022, with many of them moving onto what they believed were better opportunities.
The retention rate of your team will suffer, no matter the cause of an employee’s departure. But, to manage employee turnover, you must first understand why they quit their jobs.
Here are a few causes of employee turnover:
1) Poor compensation
Compensation is crucial. It’s one of the most common explanations for why workers quit their jobs. Talent looks for opportunities that provide comprehensive benefits. For example, health insurance and additional incentives.
Most marketing agencies are small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs). Not all SMEs have the financial means of large corporations to meet the pay demands of all their employees. Competing on salary alone is a surefire way to see your best employees leave for a competitor.
2) Fewer options for career advancement
Everyone would benefit from having a defined professional route to follow. Even if you use a campus hiring model, employees need a clear path for growth that aligns with their professional goals.
Your creative staff must perceive room for growth inside the agency. Otherwise, you risk losing their enthusiasm and dedication. If they know where they’re going, they’ll be more motivated to produce their best work and advance. And if they’re content in their existing positions, they won’t look elsewhere.
3) Unhealthy work-life balance
Overtime is commonplace in the agency industry. Many government organizations demand 24/7 availability from their staff, with little time off. This is because many creative undertakings require several drafts before they are considered complete. Eventually, burnout and employee turnover will result from such a heavy task load. To manage this, you should consider creating remote teams or giving employees time away from work to relax and recharge.
4) Poor leadership
Their relationship with upper management can influence an employee’s decision to stay with a business and affect your brand’s reputation. Managers who are inept, unfriendly, and unreasonable are the last people anyone would want to work for. Employees won’t stick around for long if leadership adopts a toxic management style.
How to manage employee turnover in your agency
1) Listen to criticism—and act on it
Regular feedback from your employees on your agency’s performance can be a powerful tool if you bother to use it. Your organization has to adopt a feedback loop mentality. Building trust with your staff requires a delicate balancing act. Not only do you need to encourage their input, but also demonstrate that you’re listening.
You can’t afford to just collect employee input about the agency environment and do nothing with it. Closing the feedback loop is essential if you want to manage employee turnover and show employees that their input matters.
To achieve this, solicit opinions from your entire team about the agency’s strengths and weaknesses. Work with them to improve their working conditions. For instance, if your employees provide negative feedback on a poor communication structure, you could immediately invest in direct inward dial lines to streamline communication.
Not every issue needs to be resolved immediately, and that’s fine. Focus on fixing the things that will have the biggest impact, rather than trying to solve a wide range of issues at once.
2) Provide more benefits
It’s worth repeating that compensation and additional benefits are significant motivators for job-hopping. It is your responsibility as an agency owner to pay your staff a wage that is competitive.
To get this right, it’s a good idea to do performance reviews on a regular basis, at least annually.
Employees should get raises that are fair and reflect how well they do their jobs. You can also show your appreciation for their hard work. Why not give rewards when they finish a job that meets your standards? This is one way to cut down on pay-related turnover and boost employee satisfaction.
3) Foster learning and growth in the workplace
It is important to employees that their bosses help them do well in their careers. When an organization supports and encourages their efforts to grow professionally, they flourish. Foster learning and growth in the workplace through initiatives like a mentorship program.
Provide the tools that employees need to succeed. For example, this could mean providing resources like remote desktop apps for iPad that boost communication, employee engagement, and workflow continuity.
Additionally, you can enhance the learning experience by using one-on-one meeting templates to facilitate productive discussions between managers and their team members. This structured approach can lead to more effective mentoring and career development conversations.
4) Hire the right people
If your marketing agency is grappling with high employee turnover rates, it’s crucial to scrutinize your recruitment strategies and assess the current team’s composition. This evaluation should encompass all team members, with special attention to pivotal roles like the digital marketing manager. Are they the right fit for your agency’s unique challenges, and do they share your organization’s values?
Consider the following questions:
- Is it possible that the problem lies with an inadequately qualified leader?
- Is there a way to improve onboarding or your recruiting dashboard?
- Does a team member actively work against the values of your team?
Identifying poorly matched employees is much easier when your organization has a firm grasp of its values. Make sure you have an idea of the qualities and traits your employees should possess.
Start building resilience today
Any expanding organization needs a foolproof plan for keeping its best employees around. Keeping your best employees on board isn’t simply a formality; it’s essential to achieving your company goals.
This principle will define success for marketing agencies and the PR industry alike for years to come. After all, employees are the ones who will turn your strategies, plans, and goals into tangible results. You can’t afford to let them leave.
If you want to reduce employee turnover at your agency and create a robust company culture, consider adopting the tips listed in this article.
