How to Reduce Employee Turnover

By Malcolm Gurley, President

Gurley Leadership Solutions Inc.  |  Ajax, Ontario

If good people keep leaving your company, you already know the cost. You lose knowledge, you pay to recruit and retrain, and the people who stay feel the strain. After 35 years inside Fortune 100 and manufacturing organizations, I can tell you the pattern is almost always the same, and so is the fix.

Why Does Employee Turnover Happen in the First Place?

Understanding why employee turnover happens is the first step toward reducing it. Pay matters, but it is rarely the primary reason your best people leave. According to a global SHRM culture report covering 17,234 employees across 19 countries, workers in positive organizational cultures are almost four times more likely to stay with their current employer. Leadership quality and workplace culture consistently rank above compensation as the top drivers of voluntary turnover. This matches exactly what I see in organizations across Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area every year.

The most common root causes of employee turnover I find are these:

• Leaders who are technically strong but were never developed in how to lead people effectively
• No clear, written goals at any level, leaving employees feeling directionless
• Poor communication and weak delegation, leaving people either micromanaged or ignored
• No visible path for growth, so ambitious employees look elsewhere to advance
• A reactive, firefighting culture where everyone is busy but few feel productive or valued

Every one of these is a leadership gap, not an employee problem. That distinction matters, because leadership gaps can be closed through the right training and skills development.

7 Proven Steps to Reduce Employee Turnover at Your Company

Here are the seven steps I use with organizations across Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Clarington, and the broader GTA to measurably reduce employee turnover and build lasting retention.

1. Assess your leaders first, not your employees. Most employee turnover starts with a leadership gap. Identify where your managers are struggling before spending on recruitment or perks.
2. Set clear, written goals at every level. Employee turnover spikes when people feel directionless. A structured goal-setting process closes that gap quickly.
3. Build delegation skills across your management team. Overloaded, under-delegating leaders burn out their teams. When managers learn to delegate with accountability, workloads balance and turnover drops.
4. Create consistent two-way communication habits. Employees who feel unheard resign. Structured check-ins and feedback loops are among the lowest-cost ways to reduce employee turnover.
5. Make growth paths visible and specific. High performers leave when they cannot see a future at your company. Show them what advancement looks like and exactly how to get there.
6. Shift culture from reactive to results-driven. A constant-firefighting culture is exhausting for everyone. Leadership Management International programs help organizations build a proactive, results-oriented culture that retains people long-term.
7. Measure employee turnover as a business KPI. What gets measured gets managed. Set a specific target to reduce employee turnover over the next 12 months and review it monthly alongside your other business metrics.

What Does the Research Say About Why Leaders Drive Turnover?

What Is the Real Cost of Employee Turnover?

When you frame employee turnover as a cost problem rather than a people problem, the business case for leadership training and skills development becomes undeniable. A program that measurably reduces employee turnover by even 5 to 10 percentage points pays for itself many times over. Learn more about Malcolm Gurley's approach and what results organizations typically see.

How to Retain Top Talent in Ontario

Retaining top talent in Ontario comes down to giving your best people a reason to stay and grow. High performers want to be challenged, to see measurable progress, and to be led by someone they respect. When you invest in developing your leaders, you signal to your strongest people that this organization is worth building a career in, and employee turnover among your top performers drops significantly.

My training and skills development work, delivered through Leadership Management International programs, focuses on the specific behaviours that keep good people: effective goal setting, goal-directed time management, genuine team building, and clear two-way communication. Visit the FAQ page for common questions about how the program works and what to expect.

How to Build a Company Culture That Reduces Employee Turnover

Culture is the sum of how your leaders behave every day. When your leaders set clear expectations, follow through on commitments, recognize contribution consistently, and invest in the people around them, retention improves because the culture becomes somewhere people genuinely want to work.

Through a proven program from Leadership Management International, customized to your organization, I work directly with your leaders over several weeks of spaced working sessions. We apply the program to real goals, drive measurable behavioural change, and track results. Malcolm Gurley works with organizations across manufacturing, healthcare, not-for-profit, engineering, and operations sectors throughout Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area, including Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Clarington, Pickering, Barrie, and Mississauga.

Frequently Asked Questions About Reducing Employee Turnover

How do I reduce employee turnover at my company?

The most effective way to reduce employee turnover is to develop the people-leadership skills of your managers. Most turnover stems from weak leadership, unclear goals, and a culture that does not value people. A proven program from Leadership Management International, customized to your organization, addresses all three with measurable results and a return on investment of typically 10:1 or better.

How do I retain top talent in Ontario?

Give your best people strong leadership, clear goals, and a visible path to grow. Investing in leadership training and skills development shows high performers that your organization is worth a long-term career, which is the single most important factor in reducing employee turnover among your top contributors across Durham Region and the GTA.

What are the warning signs that my team is burning out?

Watch for your strongest contributors carrying disproportionate workloads, declining engagement during team meetings, rising errors or missed deadlines, and exit interviews pointing to unclear direction or feeling unrecognized. These are symptoms of leadership gaps. Developing your managers directly addresses the behaviours that create burnout before your best people resign.

What is the ROI of leadership development programs?

Well-implemented leadership development programs typically deliver a return on investment of 10:1 or better. Gallup research shows replacing a single employee costs between one-half and two times their annual salary in recruiting, onboarding, and lost productivity. Programs that measurably reduce employee turnover pay for themselves many times over. Government funding may be available to offset training costs. Contact Malcolm Gurley directly to discuss whether your organization qualifies.

Do you work with companies in Durham Region to reduce employee turnover?

Yes. Gurley Leadership Solutions is based in Ajax, Ontario and works directly with organizations across Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area, including Whitby, Oshawa, Clarington, Pickering, Barrie, and Mississauga, across manufacturing, healthcare, not-for-profit, engineering, and operations sectors. Every program is delivered in person and customized to the specific goals of your organization.

About the Author: Malcolm Gurley

Malcolm Gurley is President of Gurley Leadership Solutions Inc., based in Ajax, Ontario. With more than 35 years of senior executive experience at Fortune 100 and manufacturing organizations including Honeywell, Johnson Controls, and Armstrong Fluid Technology, he helps organizations across the Greater Toronto Area and Durham Region measurably reduce employee turnover by developing leadership effectiveness at every level. He is LMI Canada licensed and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Every program is a proven Leadership Management International program, customized to the organization, with a return on investment of typically 10:1 or better. Learn more about Malcolm Gurley and why organizations choose Gurley Leadership Solutions.