The Great Resignation - How to Retain Good Staff- Laura Walters, Recruitment Board Director

With resignations at an all time high, Laura Walters our Recruitment Board Director explains what 'The Great Resignation' is and how your business can take steps to hold on to good staff.

The pandemic has made many of us think about what we want from life and what we want from our careers. From my candidate who was a board level marketing director that recently packed up his desk with a six figure salary to start his own brewery, to those who we are speaking to on accelerated journeys from teaching assistants to marketing managers in 18 months - no matter what industry you operate in, over the last 2 years there has been CHANGE.

‘The Great Resignation’ is a term that we have heard a lot of recently, and it is defined simply as: ‘A phenomenon that describes record numbers of people leaving their jobs after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.’

On average pre-pandemic, we would have typically seen around 10% of employees changing jobs each year. However, Ranstand reported in their most recent survey that around 24% of employees are planning to move in the next three to six months! We are seeing the effect of this in the recruitment world, with mass candidate shortages, high vacancies and burnout.

How do we resolve this?

We are seeing evidence of businesses desperately throwing money at current employees to retain, offering more incentives and bonuses, and even evaluating overall company culture. While this definitely can help, we need to consider that it can also enable employees with limited commitment to remain at the company - which in the long run will stunt business growth by holding on to those who aren’t fully satisfied.

When speaking to clients about this very issue I recommend the following:

Ask their employees what is important to them.

Take stock of what you have in your business, what are your business objectives, values and culture. Has this changed since the pandemic and have you asked your people? Ask them what they love about the business, what they love about their job, where they see opportunities, what they would do differently? These can be difficult conversations and to be honest at times you might not want to hear the answers but understanding this is really important as these people are your biggest asset so you need to make sure they are on the same page as you and reaching their potential.

Ask them what would make them leave.

We never do this, are we too scared to hear the answer, but why would we not want to know this? As a recruiter I ask this every day, what will make you move? Is it a £10 grand pay rise, is it a shorter commute, more flexibility? As soon as you understand this about your current employees, then you will better understand where they fit into your business and how to retain them.

Make it happen.

Let’s make sure that if we ask our staff these questions that we act on them and if we don’t communicate why. It can be difficult to be clear and transparent about our intentions so once an employee has taken the time and sometimes courage to have a difficult conversation it is so important that we let them know we are listening. Do a survey, publish the findings, and make sure that the people on your payroll understand what you are doing and where they fit into that plan.

Review this regularly.

Our needs change regularly, we are fluid, and we need to keep stock of what is important for our people right here, right now. Don’t waste your time doing a massive in-depth study and spend the next five years rolling it out. Keep on top of employees needs, have focus groups, comments boxes, easy ways to test the temperature of your workforce.

You won’t regret the time you put into your people, I promise.

Laura Walters specialises in Executive Level Recruitment, if you would like a chat about your career or recruitment for your business get in touch with her or any of our team by emailing [email protected] or call 0161 833 1044.

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