Taking Advantage of the Great Resignation

Over the last 2 years the employee population has created a huge shift in priorities. The pandemic caused many to pause and rethink their priorities. What used to be an aggressive career path and monetary increase focuses has moved to an importance on family time and connecting work to career aspirations and passion areas. This shift has caused a record number of employees to leave their jobs and has left many organizations faced with challenges around getting enough employees to open and operate a facility, as well as the challenges of getting enough materials and product to continue to make a profit.

This is not a boomerang scenario where things will go back to pre-2020 structure. Multiple organizations (large and small) adapted to allow remote work, or created flexible working schedules, but not all organizations can do that. Many organizations need employees to run the physical location or operate in the factories, so what do they do? And to a greater extent the question is how organizations flip this challenge into an opportunity to take market share, grow profits, accelerate towards goals, and be the employer of choice in their industry.

The critical component to success is to take advantage of who you are as an organization, clarify and communicate what you stand for, and ensure everyone knows where you are going. These items build the culture of the organization, and more importantly they help attract and keep the right employees. A strong understanding and foundation in these areas will help organizations take full advantage of the great resignation. Employees are no longer looking for a job, they want a connection, they want to feel they are developing and becoming a better person by the work they do. Your culture will help clarify where you recruit, who you hire, how you develop them, and clarify to your prospected candidates what you can do for them. Going forward, employment needs to be mutually beneficial, and not just monetarily.

Let’s dive into some of the key factors to create an inspiring and sought-after culture. This can be broken out into organizational structure, people development, pay, and flexibility. To succeed going forward organizations need to have a rock-solid structure (vision, mission, business plan, strategic plan, etc.). This establishes who you are as an organization, including what you stand for. Next is people development, look at your organization as a mentor or coach for all employees. Are you providing learning opportunities and experiences that will help them build skill sets for future goals? Do you know their future goals? Do you know the skills they need to learn for future career aspirations. It is important to realize any employee today does not equate to employees of tomorrow, but if the structure is in place and you care about the people to help them get to their next step, they will forever be ambassadors to your business. They will continue to visit and refer new employees because of these two pieces. The next two components (pay and flexibility) prove you mean what you put in place in the first two. If you want to attract the right candidates for you and your culture, then pay in proportion to show you are looking for the best. Reward employees for referrals and work anniversaries. Finally, be as flexible as you can to support the employee. Maybe that means more vacation time, maybe that means giving them the schedule they want 80% of the time, maybe it means allowing them to complete projects on their schedule. Think about what flexibility could mean for your business.

I am sure questions are circling your head, and this is where our business advisors can provide support. Our business advisors help assess where you are, what you need to focus on right now, and support you with key knowledge along the way. Whether you need help building a mission, getting your social media to communicate who you are, or building out talent programs our business advisors are here to help. For more information, please contact our office or register for our webinar on this subject (February 18th, at 10:00am).