2 Sides to Turnover

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Today, I want to talk about turnover. 

I’m not talking about the dollars it cost , the HR paperwork, maybe some orientation expenses. Some look at just the expense of it. But in operations, we know there's more to it. Turnover isn’t just about dollars. It’s about disruptions, headaches, safety concerns, and sometimes even customer complaints. 

And, turnover looks different depending on which side of the fence you’re standing on. For management, it’s lost productivity and constant hiring. For associates, it’s frustration, unmet expectations, or simply searching for stability. 

I’m Marty and today I’d like to walk through both sides, and I’ll share a few stories from my own experiences along the way. 

Back when I was a supervisor, we had an order selector quit right after his second week. The company had already paid for his drug screen, background check, orientation, and two weeks of training. We spent several thousand dollars before he ever made it to full production. That’s money we’d never get back. Multiply that by ten associates over a few months, well, you can do the math. But again, I want to try and stay away from the money side of it or those concerns! 

Here’s a good operational struggle. I remember a time we lost three reach truck drivers in the same month. We scrambled to backfill with temps and cross-train floor associates, but the result was slower inbound put-aways and a backlog of freight. Supervisors who should’ve been coaching were on lifts moving pallets themselves. And what happened? Errors went up, overtime went up, and morale went down. That’s what turnover does on the floor. 

And I’ve got to share a quick safety story too right! We once had a brand-new forklift driver who was still nervous behind the wheel. He was an experienced operator, but from another industry and he was getting used to our pick paths and aisles. Because of turnover, he was thrown into the mix faster than he should’ve been. One day, he clipped a bollard post at the end of an aisle by a fire door crossing. Nobody got hurt, thankfully, but the cost of repairing the concrete and writing up the incident, and closing down that cross dock area or cut through really slowed things down for about two days.   

I’ve always felt that every time someone leaves, the breakroom talk gets louder. “Why’d they quit?” “Where’d they go?”  Did they go somewhere better? Before long, you’ve got three other associates wondering if the grass is greener somewhere else. I’ve seen one resignation turn into three within a week just because people start second guessing their own situation.  

So what can us as leads, supervisors, managers, directors and V.P’s do to help with turnover in our industry?  

One thing is better onboarding or better hiring, whatever you want to call it.  
I once worked at a facility where new hires were just dropped on the floor and told, “Follow Joe around for tonight”. That’s not onboarding or welcoming. Compare that to another warehouse I visited later, they had a structured two-day orientation, introduced the new hires to their supervisors, and even paired them with mentors for the first week. Guess which site had lower turnover? 

I’m going to use one of my favorite words real quick. Communication. We as managers, we have to be clear, and our recruiters or hiring agents have to be transparent. 
One of the fastest ways to lose people is by not being upfront about expectations. I’ll never forget when an associate told me, “I was hired for four 10-hour shifts. Now you’re telling me five 12s?” He quit that same day. If schedules change, communicate them asap. If standards and the task or the productivity are tough, explain the “why.” Associates will handle tough work if they trust you to tell the truth. 

And we should be recognizing a job well done. People want, and deserve, recognition. 
At one warehouse, we started giving out gift cards to the top two selectors each week. It wasn’t a fortune, but it made people feel noticed. Turnover dropped by almost 20% over the next quarter. Sometimes, recognition is worth more than a raise. 

Oh, and here’s another word I love. Listening. As frontline managers we have to have listening skills.  
I worked at a site where selectors complained nonstop about how far apart fast-moving slots were. Productivity suffered, and people left because the job felt impossible. When we reslotted the warehouse to bring those SKUs closer together, guess what? Productivity went up, frustration went down, and people stuck around. 

Here’s a short listening story. Early in my career, I was a “get it done” type of lead. I pushed production pretty hard, and I didn’t always listen as well as I should have. Turnover in our department was pretty high. When I learned to coach instead of command, listening to associates, helping them find solutions, showing them I valued their input, the numbers improved immediately. People want to share, and they should be listened to. And it's our job as those leads, supervisors, managers, directors, and V.P.’s to listen to them. I promise you that you’ll learn something new every day if you do.  

I don’t want to take up to much time talking about the company’s cost and challenges with turnover, I want to get to the other side of the coin real quick. The cost or challenges of turnover to us as associates.  

Ok, We all want to be appreciated, and I don’t think that's too much to ask.  
I once sat down with an associate who told me, “I’ve been here three years, and nobody’s ever said ‘thank you.’” That made my heart sad. He was a solid worker, but he left a month later. Associates want to know they matter. This was at a customer's facility. I of course shared my talk with his supervisor, but I think it was to little too late.  

Now, what if, and I’m not saying it was his responsibility, but what if he had gone and spoken with his supervisor. Things may have been fixed, and his supervisor may have grown as well.  

A young guy I knew started with me as a loader. He was sharp, fast, and wanted more responsibility. He kept asking about training on the reach truck, but the answer was always, “We’ll get to it.” After his first month, he quit and joined another company that would train him. That turned out to be a missed opportunity, and a preventable turnover. I’ve shared with you that within my first month I knew loading trucks wasn't for me. My friend had told me he could get me on over at his new place and I was pretty interested. I went to my boss, shared what was going on, and was moved to the back in the hi-rise area and trained on the high-rise machine. As you long term listeners know, I stayed with that same company for many more years. 

And again, safety is important to us as associates.  
I heard from an employee once who said, “I don’t feel safe here. People are running backwards in the aisles, not honking their horns and nobody cares.” Two weeks later, he was gone. Safety isn’t just compliance; it’s part of our retention.  

And here’s an important one. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard: “I never know when I’m working.” Associates don’t quit because of hard work. They quit because they can’t plan their lives. A predictable schedule is worth as much as a raise to many people. A predictable schedule doesn't have to be a set hour. But it has to be communicated. In our business it’s usually start to finish. Thats one of the points that should be mentioned at our startup meetings. It's easy to share what time we’ll probably be getting off each day. We know the cases per hour, the headcount or available man hours and the total cases for the shift. It should be shared with us.  

What else, let me see, what did I leave off. 
Ok, Let’s be honest, unloading 1,000 cases by hand in the summer heat for xx an hour feels different than running a cash register in the air conditioning for the same pay. Associates will weigh effort against reward, growth and career opportunity, and if the balance feels unfair, they’re gone. 

All these examples do hurt us as well though. At almost every interview I’m asked or will ask, and why did you leave so and so job? If we say because I didn't get to operate a lift, or my hours was unpredictable, or I wasn't earning enough, those things could sound negative and hurt us even more.  

I’ve always found that talking it out first, communicating, will sometimes, or usually, help us sort things out.  

Well, when we put both perspectives side by side, the picture is clear. Turnover is tough, and more expensive, than I brought up today. And turnover is not a positive thing for our careers either.  

Turnover, for us on the floor, both as management and as associates is frustrating, obstructive, demoralizing, challenging, can be a safety concern, and just flat out gets in our way regarding growth. 

Oh, I’d made this little note for myself.  

From management’s view, turnover wrecks productivity, raises costs, and adds safety risks. 
From the associate’s view, turnover happens when we feel invisible, unsafe, or stuck. 

I guess I said the same thing in a different way!  

Anyway, the solutions overlap. Good onboarding, communication, recognition, fair processes, and supportive supervisors reduce turnover on both sides. And when turnover goes down, operations stabilize. Customers get better service. Associates build careers instead of bouncing between jobs. Period 

So, the next time turnover comes up in a meeting, don’t just think of it as an HR expense. Think about the overtime your supervisors are working, the backlog building in receiving, the safety incident that almost happened, or the good associate you lost because no one said thank you. 

Turnover is not just about money. It’s about operations. And fixing it is about people. 

And for the associates listening, remember, you have a voice in this too. If you’re looking for stability, speak up. Ask about training. Ask about career paths. Find a place that values you and commit to it. That’s how you turn a job into a career. 

At the end of the day, reducing turnover is about alignment. Companies and associates both want the same thing: stability, safety, and success. If we can get there together, everyone wins. 

I think we’re at a stopping point, so we’ll end with that. Thanks for stopping by again this week, have a safe week ahead, and let's help each other grow in our professional lives this quarter.