It’s an all too familiar story now. In the last month more and more clients have been feeling the pain of losing good people and finding it difficult to replace them. If you are a small to medium business the loss of two or three people can have a significant impact. I have been speaking with Managers and Business Owners regularly about the challenges they are facing in attracting and retaining good people. And fortunately they turn to us for help.

We love recruiting and do it well, but we can see that the market is shifting further and further towards the employee. We love retention just as much, and nothing makes us happier than seeing a new employee fully engaged in an organisation and being productive for the long term.

However, retention doesn’t happen automatically. Most leaders know the pain of losing key staff but sometimes struggle to connect the dots as to what’s causing people to leave.

In their latest hiring advice, SEEK revealed what their research of over 4800 Australians found out about the 4 reasons why employees are quitting in 2022.

The research reveals that 29% of Australian workers are looking to move jobs in the next 6 months and there are four main reasons:

More money

Career progression

Burn out or lack of work-life balance

Poor leadership or culture in their current workplace 

People are on the move

This is why you need a strategy. Starting with identifying at-risk employees, working out what their needs are and then working out what you can do to keep them.

First, you need to understand what motivates them.

In a recent video by Mercer, it was identified that there are 5 different employee personas driving the great resignation. These are

Aspirational – career minded professionals who are always looking for the next skill and growth opportunity

Techies – the tech employees in non-tech organisations who know there is a demand in their industry and who believe the grass may be greener in the tech-based industry.

Carers – caregivers who require greater flexibility in their life and are feeling overworked

Enlightened – those employees who are keenly aware of social issues in the workplace and are looking for better environments and cultures

Balanced – the group that are over worked and under-appreciated. They’re loyal yet burnt out and wanting a better work life balance

Once you’ve identified who may be at risk of leaving, ask yourself what you can do to reinvent your employee experience and retain them as highly engaged employees. 

To start with, here are the top three things that you can do.

1. Salaries and Benefits

What if your competitor is using salary to try and lure away your valuable employee? As the SEEK researched confirmed, a significant increase in salary and benefits is the number one reason for leaving. Employees know that it’s a job seeker’s market which is giving them the confidence to seek higher pay. Is it possible that this employee could still ‘earn their keep and then some’ on a higher salary? Weigh up the costs of replacing them and the cost in time of getting new people up to speed. Do your sums and see if you will be better off with an increase in salary to keep them.

2. Greater work life balance and wellbeing

Many workplace studies over the past few years have highlighted just how burned out, overwhelmed and stressed the workforce is. It is a reality. The pandemic resulted in a significant increase in remote working, and raised awareness about the value of flexibility. Just look at these survey results from Gartner that indicate the shifting attitudes employees are experiencing about work and life.

It is time to ask yourself what if anything you can do to meet some of these needs in your workplace? If you don’t adapt you leave the door open for others to attract your people away with better conditions.

3. The ability to do what they do best

Lastly, enabling an employee to perform at their best in a role they love is one of the greatest outcomes you could achieve in your business. People are looking for a culture that aligns with and supports their values and aspirations. It’s not only a win for them, it’s also a win for your business and your customers. Ask your employees what excites them about their work… don’t just focus on their current role but ask them about their career. Do you know what got them into it? What they love, and what they want to do more of? Then ask yourself how can we build on that?

Summary

The current employment environment is challenging and serves as a reminder not to be complacent when it comes to your most valuable asset, your people. With all this in mind, it’s time to consider what can you do to retain, develop and grow your people. At the end of the day, you can enhance your competitive advantage and reputation as an attractive place to work if you pay attention to and work with your employees to help them achieve their goals.