David Bell, CEO The HR Department

THE GREAT RESIGNATION: HOW TO RETAIN STAFF IN A POST- PANDEMIC WORLD

Top tips from David Bell, CEO of The HR Department, as staff nationwide review their priorities and work/life balance

When the pandemic first hit, there was a definite sense of camaraderie across the country; we were all in this together. Over the past two years, however, employees have had a lot of time to think about the kind of work life they want and how it should fit in with their personal goals.

In recent months, we have seen record numbers of people leaving secure jobs to follow new passions, a trend that has been dubbed the Great Resignation. The reality is, this would not have happened (at least to the same extent) if employees felt valued, challenged, and purposeful in their roles.

Being able to spot job dissatisfaction is critical but taking corrective and pre-emptive action to address it is key to holding on to your best people.

JOB DISSATISFACTION: HOW IT CAN AFFECT YOU

From demands for flexibility, additional benefits, or pay increases, it can be hard for employers to understand why dissatisfaction, lack of motivation, and boredom can cause major issues for their businesses.

After all, most employees usually complain about stress, heavy workloads, and lack of work/life balance. Whilst these factors can cause dissatisfaction, boredom with daily tasks, lack of motivation to perform for a specific team/manager, or lack of opportunities for promotion or development can cause colleagues to question their place in a company.

HOW CAN YOU HELP TO AVOID THIS?

1. BUILD A FLEXIBLE CULTURE

It is important that you begin to build a flexible company culture – flexible on working patterns, flexible on job roles, and flexible when it comes to opportunities.

A flexible business culture will allow for increased internal staff movement in a well-planned direction, ensuring colleagues can take hold of new opportunities without affecting the performance of teams and departments.

2. ENCOURAGE STAFF HONESTY

Once you have a flexible culture in place, it is important to encourage your staff to be honest about how they feel about their job roles. Whether they might feel bored or lack interest in their tasks, are dissatisfied with how a team is managed or with the level of experience within the team, or feel a lack of opportunity for promotion or development of skills, it is important that colleagues can be as honest as possible with you.

Talent retention is key – by encouraging staff honesty, you can identify what skills could be at risk, what your colleagues desire for their career in your company, and how you can best support them to get there.

3. ACT ON FEEDBACK

It is not enough to simply listen to honest colleagues, make false promises, or place temporary sticking plasters over issues such as salary or benefit bumps.

If a colleague is completely dissatisfied with their work or feels stuck in a rut due to a lack of promotional and development opportunities, they will leave. The pandemic has caused the workforce to re-evaluate their lives and what they seek from their work and personal lives; if you are not meeting employees’ needs, they will satisfy these needs elsewhere.

However you decide to review feedback from colleagues, from one-to-ones, focus groups, and/or wider departmental meetings, it is important to always act on it.

This will help to ensure that you keep valuable skills in an age of career movement, that your staff continue to perform for your business, remain happy and committed to maximising company performance while you give back to employees through increased opportunity, skills and learning development.

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