When Linda Coogle joined the company as President (a new position), the sales growth had been stagnant for a multiple years, after more than 20 years of business history. “Employee annual turnover peaked at 100.3%, of which 81.2% was voluntary. The cost impact of the constant turnover affected profits, job satisfaction, and customer experience. In parallel, there was a rapid increase in competition to find and retain qualified people to fill hourly employee positions in the California city locations. Some positions were seasonal, impacting the company’s ability to attract top candidates. It was increasingly difficult to compete with larger companies who provided the highest hourly pay and benefits,” said Coogle.
Linda Coogle, Senior Operations and Strategy Executive
To formulate the turnaround strategy, Linda studied the employee turnover data for each location, met in person with each location manager to learn about their experiences and recommendations for change, and solicited feedback from current and past employees. In addition, she studied the reviews from customers. Her goal was to create a plan that immediately addressed the employee turnover, restructured the management team, improved customer satisfaction, and controlled costs.
Linda developed and implemented a detailed plan to reduce employee turnover, that included increasing the hourly wage structure for all positions (base rates and incremental increases), restructuring the incentive plan (time in service and performance bonuses), enhancing training for managers, adjusting work shifts, scheduling monthly meetings with location managers to encourage continual feedback, and implementing new employee benefits (healthcare plan, retirement plan, education stipend, and PTO). “ I was particularly proud that the team took to the strategies I introduced which was primarily an improvement strategy based upon team-focused leadership,” said Coogle.
The additional cost for the retention tactics implemented was less than the impact of the excessive turnover (annually) and requirement for continual recruitment and training. “More importantly, during the first 6 months, the managers and hourly staff job satisfaction increased, employee retention improved dramatically, and customer feedback ratings increased by 20%.”
After a full year of implementing the strategic plan, the company was successful in achieving a 48% reduction in annual employee turnover. This was accomplished through Linda’s creation of a new pay structure, enhancing manager training and support, and implementing new retention programs, as well as 30% decrease in costs for recruitment, training, and employee performance issues.
Watch full video interview below.
Contact Linda Coogle via LinkedIn or her Career WebFolio.
Fred Coon, CEO
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