If you’re a company owner or manager, you’ve been there.
You just finished onboarding a new hire. They seem like the perfect fit for the position.
You spent hours reading resumes, then coordinating interviews.
They cleared the background check and drug screening your company footed the bill for.
Your team has invested hours training this individual…
And then they leave.
For an “easier” job.
For “more opportunity.”
Because of miscommunication.
Or dissatisfaction with their role.
Whatever the reason, there is undeniable pain in turnover.
The financial strain is always most obvious. Many studies have been conducted to determine its extent, with estimates ranging from 21% of an employee’s annual salary to upwards of 213%, depending on role and industry.
The financial cost to onboard, train, and develop new employees is significant, but with a deeper look into companies with high turnover and you’ll quickly realize that dollar bills are not all that is lost.
Just ask Orlando Morrow at Gourmet Foods International. Production Manager of the manufacturing department for nine years, he remembers the time he almost threw in the towel.
“I was about ready to be done,” Orlando shared in an interview last spring. “Turnover was, like, 90%. I had ten people trying to do production. I was straining my full-time employees.”
Morale tanked. They worked overtime and weekends to keep up with the load.
Company morale is, perhaps, the most overlooked cost of turnover.
For those left behind, the workload gets heavier. Negativity spreads like a disease. Growth and innovation gets put on the back burner—now, it’s all about survival.
So the cycle continues. Those employees, too, move on, exacerbating the problem even more.
We know what causes turnover—
So how, then, can companies increase retention and decrease the significant losses associated with turnover? One solution just might surprise you.
In a recent study, The Tent Partnership for Refugees interviewed 26 employers within the manufacturing, meatpacking, hotel, and health care industries about their experience hiring refugees. In it, “19 of the 26 employers surveyed—73% reported a higher retention rate for refugees than for other employees.”
The overwhelming consensus was clear: refugees, as a whole, are motivated and dependable employees.
But why?
In the words of one employer, “They had a life, they lost a life, and now they want a life again. They are eager and grateful.”
When a friend told Orlando Morrow about a local staffing company, sourcing workers from a completely different labor pool, he was intrigued. The employees were refugees, an idea, Orlando admits, had never crossed his mind.
“I went on the website and thought, this is something different. I said, ‘Why not?’”
Little did he know just how much of an impact that one decision would make. Orlando worked with Amplio to bring in 7, then 14, and now over 30 with 10 more starting this month.
As his workforce grew in diversity, it also grew in productivity.
“Now, we have dependability,” he shares, adding that the experience has been the complete opposite of that with traditional staffing companies.
“[We’ve had] about a 1% turnover since we started as opposed to 90%. We don’t have to keep training people every day—and we’re happy about it.”
Gourmet’s production department was no longer bleeding time and resources, and employee morale healed.
“The help came in and relieved the full-time workers. They were no longer stressed out and strained. [My] employees are grateful.”
More than coworkers, Orlando says his Iraqi, Congolese, Eritrean, Latina, Syrian, and Caucasian team has become a family.
“All these different people mixing together and they’re all friends. It’s great to see. They work together, eat together, do outside social functions. They’re learning each other’s cultures, too.”
Hiring refugees isn’t rocket science—but it’s not magic either. Further evidence shows that retention is highest among companies who “make at least some effort to integrate refugees into the workplace.”
Tent’s website explains:
These simple acts include:
Let’s be honest—these are small, but powerful, investments when compared to the cost of turnover.
So what about your company—are your retention levels healthy, or are you floundering under the cost and mental strain of constant turnover?
How many solutions have you tried to remedy the problem? Could hiring refugees be a viable solution for you?
At Amplio Recruiting, we are dedicated to connecting great companies with the dependable Refugee Workforce. We work hard to determine just the right fit for each position, and provide you with the most fluent and well-educated members of the refugee community.
When refugees find employment, they are loyal and committed, meaning you will see a dramatic decrease in turnover that will lead to drastic savings in hiring and training costs, and a boost in company morale.
To learn more, visit our website or contact your nearest Amplio office today in Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Dallas, or Houston.
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