Riding the turnover tsunami
It’s no secret that people are experiencing a shift in mindset when it comes to their work. With a war on talent, increased pressure on organisations following the end of the furlough scheme, and many more obstacles to grapple with, the concept of the turnover tsunami is now upon us. But what can you do to manage this without causing irreparable damage to your culture?
With data showing that 50% of people are looking for a new role, and the amount of people looking for a new role has increased by 43% compare to this time last year, it seems that there’s a significant shift in those reconsidering their future and we now face the problem that organisations can’t attract talent quick enough to meet shortage demands. New weekly job postings are climbing week-on-week, month-on-month.
So, what’s causing the problem?
The issue we face is that for the first time in our working lives, organisations are entering new and scary waters. We’re witnessing the end of the furlough scheme, Brexit, the resurgence of the job market, staff shortages, changing talent demands — a culmination of things which are upping the pressure on companies to deliver against the odds. And the change in mindset of the general public is throwing businesses into chaos. Team members are overwhelmed and jumping ship, the workforce left over are struggling to keep up with the workload while you battle for talent to bring in new people, but those other workers aren’t waiting for things to improve and end up leaving because they’re fed up. Before you know it you all of a sudden find yourself snowballing.
You’re also trying to encourage a positive atmosphere in the office in a bid to retain new talent without making them question the recent high turnover of staff and how safe their job is or whether it’s not them, but it’s you, and they should have accepted one of their other job offers. Sound familiar?
How can you influence this?
When we look at the reasons people would choose to remain with their existing employer, we looked at a group of surveys and focus groups that we had conducted over the last 12 months. The industries included healthcare, retail and tech, and four big themes came out of this...
- 42% value their work/life balance
- 28% value being recognised for their hard work
- 16% value company benefits and perks
What is interesting, however, is that as part of the same survey, 68% of respondents voted that company culture was a reason to remain at their existing company. So clearly, this is an area that a lot of organisations need to be focussing on.
What do you do now?
When we look at the reasons people are leaving versus what would encourage them to stay, it’s pretty easy to establish what you can change to address and manage the turnover crisis.
Firstly, double down on employee engagement. How well do you really understand the people within your organisation? What tools could you introduce to enable you to have a deeper understanding of what’s happening, how they’re feeling and what you can do to help?
Secondly, when you’re looking at your new hybrid approach to work, focus on enabling the most flexibility when it comes to a work/life balance. Empower your troops to perform work whenever and wherever suits the task in hand and which will drive the best outcome.
Thirdly, prioritise feedback and recognition. It’s stated that employee productivity is 14% higher in organisations that proactively foster recognition — why wouldn’t you want to tap into that!
We touched on this in a recent blog, but in this new working world where not everyone will be at their office desks 9-5, it’s crucial that those people still feel valued and connected to their team. By adopting a modern performance management approach where you set agile goals – so team members know what’s important and can prioritise – give real-time feedback, and encourage meaningful conversations through 1-2-1s and check-ins, you will quickly see your workforce feel more positive, uplifted and valued.
While it’s by no means going to be an easy road with the obstacles of furlough, Brexit, candidate demands etc, what you can do is put contingencies in place now in order to ride the turnover tsunami without any long-lasting damage to your organisational culture. Are you putting any of these steps into place? Let me know by finding me on LinkedIn or Twitter.
