Ah, the great resignation has created significant challenges and left many questions open within organisations and industries as a whole. One of the most positive things to come from this though has got to be the prioritised focus on how to retain existing talent… which often means a more ‘people centric’ focus.
It can be all too easy to try and fix challenges or skills gaps by recruiting new employees, while overlooking the potential within the business. We’re in a world where almost 50% of employees (when surveyed) are looking to leave their current role within the next 6-12 months, with progression and more flexibility being cited as the main reasons. If you’re in our free Facebook group, Rebecca Moloney from Career Garage did a fab session last week on this topic and gave some great insights – if you’re quick, you might still catch it in the group!
In an employee-led market with flexibility being seen as important as pay, those businesses who are focused on these areas are definitely performing much better with retention, than those who don’t.
Here’s my top tips on things to focus on to help your talent retention efforts:
Be clear on your organisational structure – Highlighting progression paths for employees. People need to see and understand the path before them if they’re going to stay.
Consider internal candidates when a position becomes available – When one person leaves, it’s too easy to just replace that role… but is that role still the same as it was two, three+ years ago? Has it evolved? Are there internal candidates who might want to go for that role and/or who could be trained into the role? When a role becomes available, check it’s still relevant, the job spec is up to date and consider people from across the business as well as recruiting externally.
Be conscious of environmental impacts for employees – Currently the cost-of-living crisis is impacting many in a variety of ways. There may be little you can do to help however, having more humanised conversations and empathy will show you value and care about your employees. Conversations might also highlight ways you can help that perhaps you hadn’t thought of before, too.
Invest in sustainability – More and more employees value making a difference to the environment and are looking for companies who offer something back and take this seriously. I’ve noticed that I’ve done more of this myself over recent months/years – it’s so important we look after the environment.
Consider opening up fully remote jobs – this can help with attracting and retaining talent from a wider pool, letting people achieve a work-life balance while reducing their commuting time and cost too. I appreciate this isn’t possible for all industries/roles but can be a real game changer for those businesses who can accommodate this.
Above anything else, employees want to be able to have a decent standard of living from their wage, feel valued and have a sense of purpose from their work. If you’re culture is built around achieving this for your people, then you’ll be one step ahead of so many other employers!
