What do we know about the causes of turnover?

This scoping review looks at academic and practitioner literature on voluntary employee turnover at Disability Employment Service (DES) providers. Voluntary turnover is defined as the movement of employees outside the boundary of an organisation. 

While there is no reliable estimate of employee turnover previous data has revealed that turnover within organisations providing disability support services in Australia was concerningly high and on the rise. Attracting and retaining high-quality staff is one of the key challenges facing Disability Employment Service (DES) providers.

The project found that the whilst the reviewed literature aimed to understand the causes and consequences of turnover, there was scant literature evaluating the efficacy of specific organisational interventions that could be implemented to reduce turnover. However, based on the results of this review, several inferences can be drawn concerning some strategies that organisations might implement to reduce turnover.

Recommendations

• Monitor job demands and reduce unnecessary job demands as much as possible.
• Improve job resources such as improving HR practices, leadership, professional development, social support, and
  remuneration.
• With personnel selection focus on organisational fit based on values rather than demographics.
• Provide good induction processes.
• Actively keep track of dissatisfaction and withdrawal behaviours.
• Systematically evaluate the causes of employee turnover using exit interviews.