Turnover: A Silent Profit Killer

Turnover also creates stress because the remaining employees must get the job done while sometimes under-staffed because an end-user support technician or programmer quit, was laid off, or was fired. When a key project team member walks out the door, the knowledge of systems and technical experience that he or she brought to the project are also gone. This often means project delays, quality degradation, and a drop in service levels. Even if you have a vacancy for only a short period of time, you have the potential costs of lost business due to unhappy customers — both internal as well as external. And it is no secret that turnover impacts the morale of your remaining employees, which can be financially as well as emotionally devastating. The 2001 IT Market Compensation Study of 198 organizations (approximately 35,000 employees) listed the most common reasons why IT professionals quit. The top three reasons are: (1) was offered a promotion at another company, (2) received significant increase in base salary, and (3) lack of career advancement/development opportunities. These same reasons are why most people leave a job. Technical professionals are no different in the expectations they have of an employer. Do you know why your last IT staff member quit? Was it for a new job opportunity, more money, or dissatisfaction with the status quo? Or did he or she fail to see a career path and what was needed for advancement? If your organization is behind the curve — not using the latest technology — you run the risk of losing good people to the competition. It is no secret that IT professionals want to learn P A Y O F F I D E A