Avoid the Post-Pandemic Turnover Wave with Employee Retention and Engagement
The world as we knew it forever changed in March of 2020. Alone in our homes, many of us quickly realized how important human contact really is. Employers were forced to adapt to work from home setups in order to maintain daily operations, while employees juggled quarantine, working from home, caring for children and managing their online learning — all while trying to maintain sanity during one of the scariest situations our nation has ever experienced.
Consequently, thousands of people left the workforce completely to focus on their priorities — family, physical health, mental health or travel. Because of this, employers must assess and implement strategies that focus more on empathy and understanding in order to retain their core groups and cultivate engagement. Strategies focused on empathy and understanding sound like a tall order but can be achieved through intentional implementation and accountability at all levels in the organization.
As we “reopen,” employers face a new set of challenges as they must decide what their company landscape looks like moving forward. Do organizations remain remote, go back to everyone in person or create flexible arrangements? Don’t forget, vaccination is a subject of debate in the workplace.
No matter the direction an organization plans to follow for “reopening,” employers must evaluate how they plan to acclimate to the newly found needs of their employees or risk a rolling wave of turnover.
Fostering Effective Communication and Empathy
The pandemic resulted in many introspectively assessing their lives and determining what really matters to them. More and more, the workforce has shifted toward looking for jobs that provide fulfillment, satisfaction and align with an individual’s values.
Let’s start by ditching the idea that being seen in the office equals productivity. If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that the majority of employed individuals are incredibly productive no matter where they work and deserve flexibility. Continued flexibility with PTO and/or scheduled work hours contribute to engagement and help employees avoid burn out. Organizations need to try to understand employee circumstances.
Effective communication is the foundation of success for any team, but simple exchanges of daily details are not enough to keep employees engaged, especially when remote. Effective communication requires empathy and listening to what motivates your team and then acting on it. There are numerous effective methods to encourage true communication including team engagement activities (socially distanced, if needed), weekly check-ins, individualized recognition and even stay interviews.
Such activities create a culture in which employees feel included and informed through intentional conversations.
Focusing on what motivates your team and showing they are valued will benefit the overall effectiveness of any organization. If this seems like an undertaking, PPR can work with your organization to create an individualized, tailored retention and engagement strategy that can be continuously altered to adhere with your team’s ever-changing needs!
https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/talent-acquisition/turnover-tsunami-expected-pandemic-ends