The Great Resignation is challenging many organizations as people re-evaluate their priorities and work goals.
A recent article in Harvard Business Review suggests that we need to act fast in order to stop this mass exodus. If you are not already paying attention to the following aspects of your workplace, you may want to do so right away.
1. Update Compensation and Benefits. If you are not paying at or above market rates for positions in your industry, then it is time to rethink this.
2. Provide Growth Opportunities. Ask your people about their dream job. Provide opportunities for them to develop the skills and experience they need for that job even if it is not going to be with your organization.
3. Focus on Purpose. More and more, people want to connect with something bigger than a paycheck and more meaningful than making more money for the company. Check out this blog for more details about purpose.
4. Prioritize Building Relationships. This may take a big culture shift. Social connections have benefits for productivity and retention. Spending time building relationships is not a waste of time.
5. Be Family Friendly. This includes parents with young children (and older children), employees who are taking care of parents, and employees who may have care-giving responsibilities with siblings or even close friends. Extend your interest beyond just the employee. Be supportive, provide leave, consider benefits such as subsidized day-care.
6. Embrace Flexibility. We hear this over and over as a major theme that is with us following the pandemic. We need to rethink the workplace and it goes beyond telework. Check out this blog for more details on workplace flexibility.
Research shows a widening gap between what people want from a work environment and what they really have. We have a choice to make. Are we going to be the organization that people are migrating from – or migrating to?
*Ideas for this blog taken from: Breitling, F., Dahr, J., Ebeling, & Lovich, D. “6 Strategies to Boost Retention Through the Great Resignation,” Harvard Business Review online, November 15, 2021.
