A Summer of Breakups?

A record of four million people quit their jobs in April alone, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. “The Great Re-Shuffle”, “The Great Resignation”, “Talent Tsunami”, or “Turnover Tidal Wave” are a few words you might have seen in the headlines recently.?Many employers are grappling with talent retention while most employees still work from home. If retention is on your mind, you are not alone. What can employers do to ensure they have the talent needed for the post-Covid world? Below are five ideas to get you started.

1.?Revisit Skills-based Workforce Planning and Location Strategy

The conversation on remote/hybrid work for existing employees has been heated. It is far more critical for companies expanding into different areas or capabilities to rethink the enterprise location strategy and workforce planning. All workforce planning should start with the business strategy. It is no longer enough to use headcount or role-based workforce planning. If you don’t think the skills required for the same role are evolving over time, consider the last time you backfilled a role with exactly the same skills profile. It is rare for a role to require exactly the same skillset as it did a year or two ago. Once you determine the skills needs for the future, you can then use location analysis to inform where you need to pivot on the talent strategy. ?

2.?Retention Strategy Needs to Go Beyond “Top Talent”

Assume all your employees are being poached. Most organizations have a retention strategy focused on a small group of employees who are considered “top talent”. However, no business ever operates successfully only with employees who are rated as top talent. If everyone else leaves, will you be out of business? Consider engagement and retention strategies for the organization. It is easy to feel disconnected in remote work environment. A month or two into the pandemic, we all got tired of virtual happy hours because it started to feel like another work meeting on a busy calendar. Can you build a sense of community using other methods? Perhaps a virtual 5k run to keep everyone healthy? Or make time for the team to help a community in need using their skillset?

3.?Managers Play a Key Role, but That’s Not All

There is no doubt the direct manager can influence employee experience significantly. In matrixed environments. However, an employee may interact with several organizations and their experience may be shaped by the broader environment. Manager can check in regularly with employees, and it is also critical to have an enterprise-wide strategy to measure employee experience. The people analytics and employee listening teams can provide a sense of the overall employee experience across the employee life cycle and help leaders understand areas of opportunities. ?

4.?Listen to Employees about their New, Reassessed Priorities?

Do you know how many of your employees have reassessed their priorities and want to spend their time differently? There may be far fewer super commuters in the future. Many have reported reprioritizing family and self-care during the pandemic and expect to continue post pandemic. The post-pandemic world of work is predictably going to be more flexible than the pre-pandemic world. As for the extent of flexibility your organization will need, it is difficult to know without asking employees. Certainly not all roles can be performed successfully virtually. Allowing flexibility can widen the talent pool to which you have access for the roles that can be remote at least part of the time.

I personally know of individuals who moved out of cities and have no plans of returning. I also know of those who live alone and cannot wait to get back into the office to have more human contact with colleagues. There may be other situations where employees are looking forward to return to the office. For large organizations, it is critical to have a robust continuous listening strategy to understand employees’ concerns and new priorities in real-time. ?

5.?Pay Attention to Employees Hired and Onboarded during the Pandemic

There is research suggesting employees hired during the pandemic are less engaged or connected to their colleagues. It may not be true in your organization, and it would be helpful to validate with data. Do employees hired and worked only during the pandemic report a lower level of engagement and leave the organization at a higher rate? If your office has started to reopen, have you considered a special onboarding for the employees who are going in for the first time after being with the company for more than a year? As the pre-pandemic hires got together in the office, will the pandemic hires be left out? Connect with the Diversity & Inclusion leads to strategize an inclusive work environment for all.??

?The Covid-19 global pandemic has provided a once-in-a-life-time opportunity for many to rethink their career and life choices. How will you ensure your organization has the talent needed for the future???

For other articles I’ve written, check out:

• Navigating Career Crossroads - Three Questions to Ask Yourself
• People Analytics Career - Do’s and Don’ts
• Use HR Tech and People Analytics to Shape Your Post-Covid Workplace Strategy
• What Can Organizations Do to Help Employees Improve their Mental and Emotional Well-being?

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Dr. Serena Huang is currently a data analytics executive at PayPal. She is a thought leader and international keynote speaker in people analytics, HR technology, future of work, AI, and employee experience with deep expertise spanning large multinationals including GE, Kraft Heinz, Koch Industries, and Deloitte. Her monthly newsletter “From Data to Action” currently has thousands of subscribers. As one of the?Top HR Leaders to Watch in 2022?and?30 People Analytics Leaders to Learn from in 2022, Dr. Huang is passionate about building high-performing global teams and helping business leaders see data as an asset in large organizations. Her recent interviews appeared on?People Matters,?Data Chief podcast,?AllVoices podcast,?HR Leaders podcast,?Workforce.com?and?Rallyware.

Follow Dr. Huang on LinkedIn here:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/serenahhuangphd/?for regular content and subscribe to her monthly newsletter “From Data to Action” today!

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