How to Retain the Best Talent during the Great Resignation (7 Mins Read)

In continuation with our previous article on Great resignation, we bring to you this article on how to retain the most valued employees during the Great Resignation. The pandemic provided all of us with the great opportunity to rethink about our career choices. As a matter of fact, in the US many people have left their jobs at an unprecedented rate over the past one year or so. About four million people in the US left their jobs in July 2021 and a record 4.4 million people or 3 per cent of the entire workforce in the US left their jobs in September 2021, as per the US Bureau of Statistics. The reason behind this move include the search for a better package, the pandemic and option to work remotely.

The Great Resignation is going to continue in the same vein till the next year, as per the various media reports.We published a blog earlier about what is causing the Great resignation, please click here to read that article. About 48 per cent of the total US workforce is actively searching for a new and better job opportunity, according to a 2021 poll. Employers in the industries like retail and hospitality have always been challenged with the high attrition rates. But now, with the availability of the remote work coupled with the workers rethinking about their work life balance have become much more important aspects for the employees as they reconsider their career prospects post the pandemic.

However, we can retain the employees if we empathize with their concerns and develop loyalty in our team by cultivating relationships and taking good care of the employees. Listed below are the different ways how we can retain them:

1. Listen to their concerns:

   Many a times we have heard that the employees quit because they didn’t feel appreciated or an employer didn’t listen to their concerns. The first and foremost step towards retaining the employees is to listen to their concerns as well as pay a lot of importance to their feedbacks. This can be done through a regular catch up with the team to hear about their concerns, feedback and how your company can enhance their work experience. The most common reason heard from people about why they resent their jobs is because they don’t feel included in their company or that their opinion doesn’t matter at all. This leads to the resignation of the employee in various cases.

2. Make them feel important as the employees come first:

   The more you invest in the employees, the more profits they will return to your company. If you take good care of the staff, they will take good care of your company it is as simple as that. Just as you invest in your business and its infrastructure, similarly you need to invest in your team too i.e the people who will help you to achieve your business goals and the targets. This investment needs to done on training the employees and developing the requisite skills. Set the guidelines in such a way so as to be flexible whenever it is needed. You have to help them achieve a good work life balance. If working remotely for a few days a week helps your employee(s) and it wouldn’t jeopardise the tasks at hand, then you need to allow them that flexibility.

3. Rewards and recognitions:

   You should celebrate the valued employees’ achievements and milestones and make them feel appreciated and recognized. These small gestures go a long way. A nice and cost efficient way to do that for the organizations with a budget is to reward the top talents with certificates and celebrate their achievements through the newsletters or the company’s social media channel, with paid leave or a lunch or dinner at the office.

4. Build a transparent work environment:

   You need to develop an internal communication structure in such a way that your employees are well informed with the company’s latest news, future plans and how the business is being run. Make sure you don’t leave any room for rumours which can be spread that can negatively impact the morale and the performance of the employees.

5. Create a healthy and friendly work environment:

   Employees often leave jobs because of a toxic environment which they find very unhealthy and unbearable. It’s the employer’s job to create an environment where the employees feel at home and at ease and wouldn’t want to leave the organization even if the competitors come along and offer them a better package. This environment should be the one which is flexible and where the employees are appreciated, their voices are heard and they can grow. Money is not always the biggest factor for people when they leave a company, there are many other things which people look at before deciding to leave.

6. Make them feel connected:

   Employees who love the brands they work for are often strongly connected with the values, mission and the services that their company provides. They feel a very strong connection with their organization, if the company culture reflects the same values that the companies promote externally too. When the employees feel appreciated, cared for and inspired, they go to great lengths to make the company successful.

This employee enthusiasm for a brand is a very competitive advantage for an organization within the industry. For example, we have seen airlines companies where the employees who feel connected to their brands have only one fifth of the consumer complaints as compared to their rivals which have more adversarial labour relations, even if both the airlines have almost identical records for cancellations and lost bags.

7. Progress:

   Employees seek progress in their lives. They want to feel the pride in being a part of something bigger than themselves. Delivering on the employee's need for progress means convincing the people that their company's products or services contribute positively towards the betterment of the society. Employees favour working for the brands which support them in bringing out their entire selves to work, working in the way they want with the much needed progress towards their career goals.

8. Employee development:

   Last but not the least, employees like to work for the employers who help them deliver their best and help in their career development. A survey showed only half of the employees felt supported while delivering their best, even though 77% of the companies said in a separate study conducted that the events of the last one and half year provided an opportunity to move towards more independent and unsupervised work arrangements.

As a part of the company’s new design, managers are rewarded for encouraging their team members to stay curious, focused on innovation and manage their own selves. This means enabling and developing employees to better recognize their skills and their values.

Way forward:

The managers should recognize that the “Great Resignation” isn’t a short term issue, rather it’s a long term opportunity for the employers to build a competitive advantage by retaining and attracting the best talent. The most successful companies in terms of employee retention align themselves with the connection, progress and development of the employee. They provide the appropriate incentive systems and convince people not just to stick in their jobs, but stay motivated to throw their entire selves into the company’s mission. Organizations which tap into the power of their brands to deliver meaning to the employees are found to be much better in serving their customer’s needs and as a result, realize higher growth and success in the long run.