The short answer
People leave for reasons beyond pay: a rota that changes at short notice, unpaid travel between sites, being sent somewhere unfamiliar with no briefing, and pay queries that take weeks to resolve.
Each of those is a systems problem, and each is cheaper to fix than the recruitment it causes.
What drives people out
- Schedule changed with little notice
- Travel between sites that is unpaid or badly planned
- Being sent to a site with no information about access or tasks
- Pay queries that take a long time to resolve
- No route to raise a problem, or nothing happening when they do
- Inconsistent supervision between sites
The fourth is underestimated. Someone whose pay is wrong and who waits three weeks for a correction will start looking, regardless of the underlying rate.
Where systems help
| Problem | System change |
|---|---|
| Short-notice changes | Publish rotas further ahead, notify immediately |
| Wasted travel | Optimise routes, cluster sites per person |
| Unfamiliar sites | Site briefing available on the phone |
| Pay disputes | Accurate time capture the worker can see |
| No voice | Simple reporting route with visible follow-up |
The fourth row is the highest return for the least effort. Time capture that the worker can check themselves removes most pay disputes before they become one.
Continuity matters to clients too
The same person at the same site does better work, needs less supervision and is noticed by the client. Scheduling for continuity rather than pure efficiency usually improves both quality and retention.
Optimisers will break continuity for small efficiency gains unless it is included as a constraint. Include it deliberately.
Measure it
- Track turnover by site, not just overall.
- Compare against travel time, cover rate and schedule stability at those sites.
- Ask leavers what actually decided it, and record the answers consistently.
- Act on the most common cause rather than the most recent complaint.
- Re-measure after the change.
Turnover concentrated at particular sites is diagnostic. It usually points at something specific about that site or that supervisor rather than at pay.