Spontaneous employee turnover...now what? This is how you deal with changes in the workforce!

The average length of stay in a company is decreasing! Correctly read - (especially younger) employees stay on average shorter and shorter in the same company. I assume this doesn't make anyone jump out of their skies, (GenZ/Millennials who feel attacked now: #nofront, I'm one of you), however, it is a fact that, for a variety of reasons, the length of stay of employees is decreasing.

"Recruiting talent is easier than retaining it" is often the second observation that comes up along the way. Naturally, this poses a number of problems for companies, especially with regard to productivity and continuity within ongoing business operations; after all, constantly training new colleagues consumes expensive resources. This starts with the time that the trainer now has to spend on the introduction of the colleague instead of on his own activities, and ends with errors within the business processes that have only arisen because some details about the new colleague's tasks have fallen by the wayside during the training phase. A change of employee can thus cause serious problems within the company, which is why every company should prepare itself well for such cases!

But how exactly do I approach the problem as the person responsible? The requirements are actually clear: we must be able to offer the new colleagues a system that shows in detail the tasks they are to perform in the company. Of course, the system must not only be easily accessible, but also clear and understandable. Moreover, the necessary information should ideally come not only from a manager who is separated from the actual work process, but also from the (formerly) responsible colleague himself. This ensures that the recorded process also corresponds to the company's practice.

Process management as a company guide

A possible solution for this requirement profile can be found in a process management system (sounds unsexy at first glance, but it's not, I promise!). Such a system also requires time and effort, but it also offers solutions for a wide variety of problems, including employee upheaval: First of all, process management systems condense the existing workflows (processes) that take place in the company in a central database. A well-filled process management system can therefore already fulfill the requirement of mapping the tasks of previous colleagues in detail - check.

You may think "well, finding your way around in such a system takes just as much time", but there is a solution for this: roles is the keyword. Really good BPM systems are filled in combination with an organizational chart, which is not only based on the individual persons in the company, but also on their role in the company. So for the system, it is not Ms. Blue who was responsible for product development, but simply the product manager- who simply has to be changed in the next step. In this sense, this makes the adaptation process much more pleasant, not only for the new colleague, but also for the company itself.

In addition to improved onboarding, however, process management can also help retain employees in the company - by making lasting improvements to the workforce's day-to-day work and providing opportunities for improvement, and by focusing the corporate culture on the success of its own employees.
Always having an overview of tasks and responsibilities not only contributes to a smoother flow within the company, but also ensures that the workforce in general feels less stress: if you don't overlook anything, you can't be stressed by undiscovered worries (and mental health is important, we all know that!).
An overview of one's own processes also offers the opportunity to optimize them faster and more effectively. Processes can be used to increase employee productivity - and if you feel productive and function well in your job, you'll be happier too, right?

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So with a proper process management system, we have a way of making it much easier to train new colleagues, because they can be informed much more quickly about the details of their new work - without information being lost anywhere. At the same time, it can also give existing workers a method to continue optimizing their own work and thus always have "something new" in the familiar operation. Of course, a certain training period and the associated maintenance effort can still not be eliminated... but shortened as much as possible.

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