A small business succeeds largely due to the hard work of an attentive staff. For this reason, it is imperative that employee morale stays high. If your company has a high staff turnover, the working environment will suffer as workers deal with fears and questions that can severely depress productivity, teamwork and sales. Management must work to counteract high turnover and restore stability to keep the business up-and-running.

Creates Insecurity

When staff turnover occurs, it can create insecurity for remaining staff members. Many begin questioning whether their own job is set to be eliminated. If the turnover was due primarily to departing employees, remaining staffers might struggle with questions of why they left and is there something better out there for them. This type of insecurity can cause employees to be less efficient and spend an undue amount of time questioning the state of the your company.

Depresses Motivation

An effect commonly produced by staff turnover is a downcast atmosphere produced at this type of turmoil. When employees experience the depressed mood of the workplace, their motivation to work at a high level becomes impacted. It is difficult to concentrate when old employees are going and new people are coming onboard. This state of flux causes natural pauses, questions and, inevitability, gossip that can block the way to producing quality work.

Loss of Confidence in Management

Employees who witness a percentage of staff leaving on a regular basis will begin to question management's handling of staff. Even if an employee has been satisfied with her role in the company and has respect for her manager, staff turnover can still produce doubts. If these doubts persist, it is prudent for the worker to set up an appointment to discuss her fears with her supervisor. Many times during a period of rapid turnover, misinformation makes its rounds around the workplace. Management should be preparing to offer feedback and assurances to get issues resolved so the staff continues moving forward.

Inhibits Teamwork

During a period of high turnover, it is likely that teamwork may suffer. It is difficult to form strong teams to handle team-based initiatives when workers are frightened of losing a valuable team member. Staff members will likely revert to trying to accomplish large assignments on their own, rather than risk losing a partner who may then leave them with all the work anyway. Taking on a new team member in an established team can be difficult as well. According to The Rainmaker Group, employee morale will naturally dip as experienced employees will need to take on extra tasks while the new team member attains proficiency.