THE RETENTION REVOLUTION: Fighting back against the Great Resignation.

The Great Resignation is an occurrence that is unfamiliar to no one. In fact, while the percentage of resignations jumped 29% between 2020 and 2021, the number of people changing jobs frequently has been trending upward over the past five years, even though it was at a slower pace. With the great resignation coming about, employees do not wait long to move jobs, in fact, 40% of employees leave their jobs within the first year. 52% of employees who have resigned have stated that their manger or their employer could have done something to keep them from leaving, but employers are not being proactive about the same. 51% of employees who voluntarily leave their jobs say that neither their manager or any of their organization leader spoke to them about their job satisfaction or their future three months prior to their exit. While there are several reasons that can be accounted for why people leave their jobs, many of which are beneficial to their career growth, companies are bearing the brunt. Turnover is proving expensive for companies as replacing an employee who resigns can cost up to double of that employee’s salary.

When the world went to a standstill during the pandemic and started to change, the workplace changed too. Companies cannot expect to deal with real issues and concerns like employee engagement by continuing to follow their 2019 paradigm and ‘hope for the best.’ A Company can no longer hire a qualified employee and expect her to find her way. The approach to employee engagement has changed, and its high time companies change their paradigm and approach too.

This Article hopes to highlight what it takes for an organization to join the bandwagon and prepare to take on the Retention Revolution.

1.??Actively Understand the Employee life Cycle and use it for your knowledge

The Employee life cycle consists of 4 critical stages; Pre-Hire, Onboarding, Post-hire and Exit and Offboarding. Companies are most involved in the first two stages, because it involves them having to ensure that they select the right candidate for the job and provide them with the necessary training that equips them to handle the workload. The last two stages is when the employee should be essential to the company, as it is an opportunity to engage, develop and retain the employee. In the final stage is where many companies fall short. An employee's exit offers invaluable insights into the employee experience and supervisor satisfaction. A company can learn what causes an employee to be disengaged, and how they can do better for their employees in the future.

?2.??Use Data Driven Approaches to Hiring, Onboarding and Retention

We live in an age that is driven by data and analytics that are available at our fingertips and these advanced technologies have proved beneficial to employers. Employers often struggle to make the connection that retention is based on how they hire and onboard employees and aspects such employee recognition and engagement. Rich data technologies can help discover the root causes of turnover, which empowers employers to make a positive change. The biggest guessing game that employers have to play and something they don’t get right is trying to identify who is leaving the organization. Certain data tools can help employers get candid feedback across the employee experience to understand where and how improvements need to be made, in areas of recruiting, employee experience and in cases of employee exit.

Studies show that having post-hire engagement data can result in significant long-term value for your organization with 41% lesser disengagement/absenteeism, a 59% reduction in turnover and a highly engaged team with increases in profitability by 21%.

?3.???Make Checking in with your employees a priority

Regularly checking in with your employees has been found to improve employee engagement. One of the best ways to do this is through feedback during the employee post-boarding and before the employee exit. Employers must frequently enquire about employee goals, their concerns, and their observations. In this way, they will find it easy to identify what motivates and challenges employees. Regardless of how long someone has worked in an organization, it is essential to show interest, listen and act on the things that employees share.

?4.??Be Mindful of the kind of surveys conducted, and how you manage the information

Most closed ended surveys, like multiple choice, yes or no, rate from 1- 5, 1 being bad, 5 being excellent where employees choose from a set of predefined options helps you to know that something is wrong, that something is making the employee unhappy, but you do not know the ‘why.’ So, while the information gathered might be useful from a statistical point of view, you do not know what the problem is or how you can solve it. Meanwhile, in open ended surveys, leaders do not organize the information in ways where they can take any form of action.

While companies conduct plenty of surveys and implement other listening exercises, they stop at the asking. A recent survey conducted on the Great Resignation found that nearly half of all the respondents said that they don’t believe that their feedback to employer surveys lead to any meaningful change. Of those, over a third are looking for a new job. Employees do not just want to be listened to, they want to be heard and they want serious action to be taken.

?While the Great Resignation has been haunting the corporate world for a while now, it is high time that employers and companies respond to it efficiently. While I have mentioned major ways that can help a company boost retention, there are still several paths that are left undiscovered. Nonetheless, employee engagement stays at the centre of it all. Employees are the ones who keep the company running and it is of utmost importance that they are made a priority as well. There is no doubt a lot of importance and conversation being given to the subject of mental health and employees who feel alienated and are bound to want to resign sooner or later. The conversation should now start with companies. Technology and IT have made surveys and analysis easier, but the question remains if companies are willing to go the extra mile for their employees.

Is there someone listening and acting out there??

#retention #workplace #employeeexperience #employee #cliffordmohanpai