WORKFORCE: Countering the “big quit.” By Melisa Gillis

Countering the ‘big quit’

COMPANIES MUST BE PROACTIVE TO PRESERVE A SKILLED WORKFORCE

By Melisa Gillis

Gillis Consulting

People are leaving their jobs at a pace we haven’t seen in several decades. Not only is this eye-opening, but it’s creating significant organizational challenges around retention as well as attracting and onboarding new employees. Almost every conversation with our clients and colleagues involves some reference to this issue and requests for tips and tools to offset the trend we’re calling the “big quit.”

Unfortunately, the situation won’t be easily resolved. People who have emerged from months of pandemic lockdown are seeing the world very differently. Economist Betsey Stevenson comments in an interview with Ezra

Klein, “I can’t think of any other time when it’s been a correlated shock across the entire country, where we’ve all been faced – no, forced – to ask questions.” The questions she’s referring to — “Am I going in the right direction? Is this the right occupation for me? Am I living my best life? Am I doing work that fulfills me?” — come when we have been shaken up and begin to question our current lives. The pandemic has created great stress through loss — loss of lives, jobs and dreams — and it has impacted our thinking. People are adopting a “life-is-too-short” mentality — too short to be doing this job and too short to be living the way I’ve been living. Carpe diem. Seize the day!

A NEW MARKETPLACE

After all this time with our heads down, there is a pentup desire to change jobs — or change something — at the same time many companies are experiencing growth. That’s resulted in a worker’s market. Recent polls find that 20 percent to 40 percent of employees are looking for a different role. The exact reasons vary: burnout, rethinking career and life choices, new opportunities, virus vulnerability and the big one — more flexibility with work arrangements. Half the people currently working remotely say that if their company doesn’t continue to offer remote work options long term, they’ll move to a company that does. WORKFORCE, PAGE 10

Melisa Gillis is chief executive officer of Gillis Consulting and brings more than 35 years of experience in executive coaching, leadership and team development and as a facilitator of results-focused transformational experiences.

to have moments of frustration, patience and understanding have, to a great degree, increased. Delays and technology barriers are tolerated and understood.

As we get back to business, we must be prepared for starts and stops. We encourage you to think about our shared goals and challenges, our humanity. We believe doing this in all arenas correlates to better and more productive business outcomes and relationships, which ultimately can transcend any work environment.

MANAGING DISRUPTION

Many of our business customers have rapidly added remote services into their business operations driven by technology. For many, that wasn’t easy, but the benefits were real and can be lasting — providing convenience for customers and protection for businesses from financial, operational, physical or social upheaval. Because of these quick adaptations

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Competition is fierce for qualified candidates. Recruiters are in high gear, with companies kicking in a variety of benefits above and beyond the usual. The CEO of a veterinary company told me they are offering a sizable signing bonus for a $17-an-hour veterinary technician’s job. Other companies are adding incentives, such as college scholarships for both the employee and family members, and guaranteed enrollment in management training programs. We even heard free hotel rooms were offered for summer help at some of the big hotel chains.

However, hiring bonuses and incentives can only go so far in such complex, uncharted waters. Replacing one worker can be costly, both financially (up to three times the new hire’s actual salary when training and team integration are factored in) and resource-wise. The impact of multiple employees leaving within a short period of time can place significant stress on employees left behind who end up carrying increased workloads with potential critical gaps in the workstream.

ATTRACTING, RETAINING TALENT

No one knows how long this employee-driven turnover storm will to technology and other offerings, customers have come to rely on and expect multiple channels for transactions, large and small. Conveniences that drive speed and efficiencies, such as the digitization of accounts payable and receivable functions, continue to be adopted widely by businesses to ensure timely cash flow.

Clients and customers will likely continue to depend on and expect the same conveniences even as we integrate back to more person-to-person business transactions and meetings. Continuing to provide these offerings and developing a hybrid business model will be essential to customer satisfaction, preparedness for future business interruptions, and future success.

It’s interesting that the pandemic continues to drive businesses and their customers to trust technology they previously had reservations about; necessity will do that. But having broken down the resistance, now is the time to evaluate these tools and determine how they can enhance your business model, increase efficiency and play a role in operational cost management.

It’s also time to reflect on how your business may benefit from an augmented way of operating based on the technology changes and lessons learned. Talk to your business peers, North Shore Chamber and other business advocacy groups, and customer relationship experts and be open to new ways of operating that will help you succeed both now and in the future — no matter what may lie ahead.

While the pandemic is not completely in our rear-view mirror, we all hope we’ll never live through the extreme challenges that were presented in the last year and a half. But having done so, it’s critical that we all reflect on the positives that have resulted from the steps we took to manage through and advance those initiatives that made us and our businesses stronger collectively. I

last or when the marketplace will settle down. So, where does that leave employers? The current climate calls for taking steps to one, retain existing employees who are concerned with finding the right hybrid work balance for themselves and their families and two, bring on new employees in such a way that they become up to speed and integrated into their new teams quickly and effectively, no matter what type of work arrangement they have.

There are many types of activities and tools for addressing these challenges. Here are some to consider:

Leadership initiatives

 Organizational development consulting: During this turbulent time, review what behaviors, systems and initiatives are in place to retain your employees and what will make a sustainable difference

to potential new employees.  Executive and leadership coaching:

Gain clarity on high-priority activity and ensure accountability for following through.

Organizational strategies

 Organizational and individual resilience: Review key indicators that are critical to the ability to survive a crisis and thrive in a world of uncertainty.  Workplace analysis: Encourage managers and employees to review workloads, enabling important conversations about priorities that will result in more alignment and greater performance.  New employee toolkit: Create a database linking key information to provide a one-stop shopping resource for new hires, improving retention of employees. I