Higher compensation (wages) is not the only way to reduce turnover and increase employee morale. Tossing money at a problem is not likely to fix it, at least not in the long term. There are other matters at play that need to be addressed, and higher wages will only work for so long before staff members move on to work for your competition.

When employees are receiving a fair wage in the first place, other strategies can be used to help reduce employee turnover and build a strong team.

High employee turnover and low morale are challenges in many industries but seem to be chronic in the hospitality sector. Fortunately there are strategies we can use to improve retention and help increase morale, or at the very least help it from becoming chronic and more problematic.
Here are some areas to consider. They aren’t in any particular order, as I believe they are all vital. Having said that, if there was one thing that I would put above all others, it’s communication
Think about these:

• On-going and open communication.
• A professional workplace where employees feel safe and respected and happy to work.
• Continuous training that is done correctly: remember that bad training can be worse than no training! There’s no point in hiring for attitude if successful continuous training is missing.
• Create and offer an open, friendly workplace: it might sound trite, but do you have an open-door policy in place that staff feel comfortable with?
• Help employees to succeed in their work and careers: this builds confidence and an enhanced knowledge base in your employees and in your establishment. Don’t create a “brain-drain” scenario in your company; your competition will be glad to pick up your top performers!
• Always pursue continuous service, product and system improvements, never rest on where you are today, and always strive to be better tomorrow than you were today!

A significant investment is required to recruit, train and supervise all of your staff members. Hopefully, as a direct result of well thought-out recruitment, hiring, orientation and training programs, your employees will gain knowledge, skills and work experience and choose to stay and contribute this knowledge base to their own success as well as the success of the company. It’s always worth the extra effort to get it right from the beginning and plant the seeds for your employees to perform successfully within your establishment. If you can put this effort into your employees from the beginning, they will, in turn, put the effort into making you more successful as well. That means higher profit for you and more stability for your employees!