The 'new' pandemic - Staff retention.

The pandemic may be over three years old, but like one of it’s many chronic variants (‘Long COVID’), it’s prolonged side affects, are still being felt on a global scale today.??

Employers have not only been challenged by COVID 19 itself, but also by the many aftershocks triggered from continued employee isolation. Companies initially were forced to immediately pivot and adapt to overwhelming changes in the way they do business; but now, they’re dealing with the added mental, physical, and technological stressors upon their isolated employees as well.???

The mental trauma of surviving a lengthy lockdown has taken a major toll, creating a pent up desire in some staff to interact and live life to the fullest outside of a job that is still, years later, being conducted remotely.?We survived Covid only to be struggling again by conducting online business at all hours.?Smartphones, project management apps, and social media have evolved with everyone checking their phones nonstop and managers and clients expecting rapid replies. Covid and the rise of Zoom (and others) have contributed to an expectation that workers should be constantly online and reachable – causing additional mental trauma and burnout - essentially eroding any real sense of true work/life balance.

At the start of COVID, record numbers of workers voluntarily quit their jobs and the ‘Great Resignation’ took hold. In March and April of 2020 Canada lost more jobs than it had in the past three recessions COMBINED. ?We have since recovered the majority of those losses, but the rate of employment gains has slowed. ?

The remaining employees are struggling with shouldering extra burdens of added workload (covering for people no longer there), reduced support, and ongoing employment volatility – to name but a few.?

Now, there’s a new pandemic on the horizon, caused by those employers that ignored the needs of remaining staff and now employee retention is on a downward spiral, with dissatisfied workers looking to change jobs for a better work/life balance and greener pastures with firms possessing an improved Company culture.?The ‘All’s clear, come on back’ proclamation from some employers is being met with a cautious ‘we don’t necessarily want to return’ reply by some unfulfilled staff.

More and more employees are setting stricter boundaries, and only doing the bare minimum of what has been previously expected of them. This phenomena called ‘Quiet Quitting’ has workers keeping their jobs but not volunteering for anything extra, not being available outside of normal work hours and typically not taking part in other workplace activities.?In the U.S., Gallup estimates that at LEAST 50% of the US workforce is quiet quitting, and that number could get even worse.?Quiet quitting is having a dramatically negative affect on company culture, causing not only problems with productivity, but the retention of existing staff as well. ??

Today, employees are dealing with additional stressors such as growing inflation, increasing prices, a fluctuating economy, and myriad political and social issues affecting supply and value chains.?As a result, according to a recent Robert Half survey, 61% of workers are now looking for a higher salary, 37% better benefits and perks, and 36% want greater flexibility to choose when, where and if they wish to work. Retaining staff continues to get much harder.

So what can employers do to increase employee satisfaction and keep staff retention levels at their highest?

Pay employees competitive compensation:

Regularly evaluate and adjust salaries. If you can’t increase pay right now, consider providing other forms of compensation, such as bonuses, improving healthcare benefits, and appropriate retirement plans.

Perks and other forms of appreciation:

Perks can make your workplace stand out to potential newcomers and revitalize current staff and boost overall employee morale and retention.?Flexible work schedules, and remote work options are perks many professionals value. ?However employers should also be developing improved wellness offerings to help employees feel supported and motivate them to prioritize their healthy well being. Counselling and stress management programs, reimbursement for fitness classes, elevated trust, empathy and recognition by Company leaders are just some examples of what firms should be doing to acknowledge employees efforts post Covid.

Work/Life balance:

Since Covid, people are much more passive and value a good work/life balance even more than salary. A healthy work/life balance is essential to job satisfaction and employee retention.?People need to know their managers understand they have lives outside of work and recognize that maintaining a healthy balance can be even more challenging when working from home.

Managers should be encouraging their employees to be proactive and personally set appropriate working boundaries themselves and take their requisite vacation and related ‘me’ time to de-stress. Workaholism from people who toil for extended periods (50 hours a week or more) are prone to experience increased mental and physical health consequences.?Isolation just adds to it. Employers need to recognize that creativity, productivity, efficiency and retention are all in jeopardy when staff don’t function effectively by neglect to include ‘non work’ balance in their lives.?

To conclude, staff are struggling with both the mental and physical demands of prolonged isolation and working at home. It’s the mental health and chronic strain experienced by staff, when they don’t feel that their contributions are being fully recognized and compensated, that’s causing them to leave.?Employers that have overlooked compensation adjustments, flexible work schedules and remote work options are feeding an emerging staff retention pandemic.

It’s definitely a candidate driven job market out there.

Employers need to show they care by being diligent in reviewing and improving staff communications, constantly evaluating and providing superior staff benefits, and being mindful to encourage a healthy company culture now, in order to hopefully lessen and possibly avoid a staff retention pandemic later. ???

Article as written by Tim Moore and published by Supply Professional Magazine - Feb 2023 edition.