Many organisations have sought to accept employee resignations for the better as the ‘Great Resignation’ is accepted with new measures and policies in place. Leaders are now looking at the situation as an opportunity to build a ‘goodwill reservoir’ for the employees and make better retention policies.
While there have been many reasons for the sudden surge in resignations, the only way out is the way forward. Whether it’s the employees’ burnout concerns, improper work/life balance, or work-from-home flexibility, employers are facing the storm with tact and logic.
While employers like Walmart and Target have resorted to employee development as a means to retain employees, some others have sought to promote better work-from-home opportunities. On the other hand, tech giant Google has stated that employees who work from home could lose money. It seems you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
In any case, if you’ve adopted the wait-it-out approach, it’s time to look inward to see outward. It’s time to look at the bigger picture.
Four ways in which the Great Resignation is an opportunity in disguise for the Great Reshuffle.
Reset- rebuild
Research shows that companies that have been continuously improving their HR policies have been able to retain existing talent and attract new.
The Great Resignation is your opportunity to rebrand and reset, to develop a better co-working space where employees like to collaborate, network, and onboard. This leads to enhanced camaraderie, rich company culture, and retention in turn.
Flexibility – Hybrid
The Covid-19 pandemic has offered enough evidence to employees to show that they’re as productive from home as in the office. With the acute labour shortage in place, employees are sounding the call and making the right move.
As a leader, you have zero time to waste. In order to bring in an effective Hybrid work model, think from employee teams’ point of view, neither from an individual’s perspective nor from the company’s.
Determine which teams must work simultaneously for the company to run efficiently. Define the hours and the frequency in which these terms must work together in the office.
For technical support teams where work is mostly done through emails and support tickets; you might as well reduce the office hours to a bare minimum unless they prefer otherwise.
Offering flexible work options allows employees to focus on passion projects and hobbies that in turn lead to restored work/life balance and job satisfaction.
Employee development
Given the new hybrid or remote model, what enriches the employee experience makes him/her want to stay and be a part of a larger family?
As humans, one of our primary desires is the ‘desire to defend what’s ours. How can you ensure that your employee associates with your company as his own family? Certainly, he/she would defend their jobs and their work but would they defend the organisation?
Guaranteeing lifetime employability through employee development programs/sponsorships is your cue.
Develop employees, so they can be viable candidates for jobs long after they have left the company. A system that promotes employee development promotes innovation. Innovation and change lead to continuous growth and long-term success.
Build trust – listen, don’t hear!
The Covid-19 pandemic has served as a litmus test for many employers. Those who have spent the past months in ensuring employee wellbeing, as McKinsey senior partner Bill Schaninger called “a goodwill reservoir” have traversed half the path to retention. However, for better or for worse, things have changed forever. Workplaces can never go back to what they were. Therefore, efforts to return to what was, are futile.
No, don’t look at it as a terrifying prospect, consider this as an opportunity instead. “You can’t keep a man who doesn’t want to be kept.” In other words, accept that the ‘Great Resignation’ is here for the better, focus on what you can do to develop employees that would become marketable candidates.
“When your company is a badge of honour on someone’s resume when employees eventually want to leave, plenty of others will want to fill their place.”
Sandra J Sucher. (Harvard Business School)