HOW DO WE IMPROVE EMPLOYEE RETENTION

EMPLOYEE RETENTION is one of the most difficult challenges facing the current workforce. However, this is not just an EMPLOYER issue. EMPLOYEES are becoming increasingly aware of their perceived value and less satisfied with company culture and community shaping the environment that they are working in. There are a number of reasons that the workforce is feeling tremendous stress right now and struggling to find the right employee fit. It will be incumbent upon employers to build the structure that encourages individual experience evaluation & performance, credibility, accountability, clear path of career advancement and success within the company and a community where employees can feel valued, with meaningful relationships of belonging.

The Pandemic has thrown everyone on their ear and the continued focus on its negative impacts drives us down a road of more problems instead of solutions. Instead of trying to find answers by improving old processes, it may be necessary to take a HUGE step back and re-address how we bring our workforce back. The Pandemic made us - Employer and Employee - very aware of the benefits of working from home, working virtually, multi-tasking, how we can become more self-sufficient on less, how short life is and what we need to prioritize both professionally and personally. However, what has been most revealing is just how important it is to focus on the PERSON.

EMPLOYERS used to work this way. I remember proudly walking interns through the offices of Kitchell CEM and outside the door of each office was an employees name and the number of years they had worked for Kitchell. 9 years, 12, a lot of 15 year construction management veterans, enjoying their job with a respectable company, owned by employees. Back then an annual Christmas Party and Summer Bash were enough to keep us happy. We received good pay, good benefits and the people surrounding us made our job easy and fun. This work atmosphere started to change with companies scaling, growing, losing track of investing and taking care of their employees, putting tremendous workloads on individuals - requiring them to take on work that was not necessarily aligned with their expertise and hiring young, inexpensive college graduates and throwing them to the wolves without proper mentorship or guidance. This "abuse" was tolerated up thru the beginning of the pandemic and quickly revealed itself when employees started taking back control of what they wanted the work environment to look and feel like. Some companies have embraced the request for change and started working on company culture that invests in their employee - provides support and care about individual health, wellness, mentorship and a tangible "plan" for promotion and opportunities within the company. However, concurrently we have seen a disincentive for workers to stay committed and vested in the company mission. A big part of this reason is the fact that employees feel less valued, their hard work, effort, innovation pours into a company that gets all the credit.

There are some tech companies that have taken company culture to the extreme and for their platform, it may work just fine. Each company will have to find their fine line in keeping employees happy and yet maintain a profitable business amongst all the other challenges facing industry these days. There will be no overnight fix but if the focus stays on the outcome of the Employee there is a higher likelihood of retaining them. Education for both EMPLOYER & EMPLOYEE will be critical. Employers need to recognize life and work experience as a valid measure of capability and not put so much emphasis on a degree. This does require individual verification and more effort in evaluating individual experience and how it correlates with the specific position and/or role. Employees have to recognize that you can't skip experience. You cannot somehow intravenously administer life and work experiences in a suppressed timeframe that jumps you straight into management. Employers building company culture around employee investment, wellness, relationships, community and show a designed career path for employees to follow, will find success in this new workforce environment. Additionally, including the highly skilled retirees in mentorship positions not only passes down valuable generational experience, it also provides worth to a member of the workforce that may not have been fully appreciated and this reward of giving back provides them with an opportunity to be appreciated for their expertise.