When you don’t know how to retain your talent: 5 Must-Dos
Forgive me as this post may be a little more Oped-like than my other posts. I promise I will fight the urge to stay on my soapbox too long at any one point.
Companies are struggling to figure out what motivates their people, how they can retain them, how they can ensure the right people are in the right jobs, and how can they help them avoid burnout and be productive.
At the same time, individuals are exploring what motivates them, what do they want out of life and how does their current career and job fit or not fit within that vision, and whether they stay or leave their current job.
Meanwhile, organizations can’t find anyone qualified to take the jobs that are open from attrition or demand from the business. I speak with recruiters every day and they are scratching their heads. With so many people exploring and so many organizations looking, why can we not make any matches?
I am always challenged by how poorly Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) weed through resumes and discard candidates who could be the best match ever but because certain keywords are not used or certain fields may be left blank that are not required, good people get tossed to the side wondering why they were not selected for an interview. Another topic for another time…
I can’t have a conversation today without hearing the frustration from everyone that the war for talent is fierce. Every company is experiencing this at some level — some more than others. Some people are leaving jobs without having another one confident they will figure it out in the short term. They just need a break from working insane hours at the kitchen table for 18 months.
Unfortunately, I have heard a few leaders grumbling in the news that people just need to suck it up or rub dirt on it and get back in the game. They worked long hours and had zero support in their day. They didn’t have career paths, development, and flexibility in where or when we worked so why can’t everyone just get over it.
This attitude is disappointing, to say the least. Leaders who say such things are completely out of touch. I understand things may have been different but so was society, the cost of living, the environment, the political climate, the cost of higher education, and many more differences.
Since we have worked, society and times have changed. We had to flex to react to the industrial revolution, safety measures and unions, equal pay, equal rights, labor laws, streamlining, robotics, automation, proactively creating employee value propositions, and investing in our people so they will invest with the organization. We have to keep pace.
Now, this type of change is different. This almost feels like a mini-revolution. People are deciding how to fit career and personal together. We may not get the mix right all the time but it is an important and very personal question we each need to figure out. So, how can organizations help?
Listen, really listen.
Many organizations have held listening sessions, sent surveys, and facilitated focus groups to tap into motivations, desires, what is missing, what employees desire in terms of support, location, and job satisfaction. If you haven’t done this exercise, I encourage you to do it. If you have done this exercise, have you looked at the results? If the results are kept at the highest levels, have you asked your direct team? If you are an individual contributor, have you thought about this for yourself and shared your insights? I have seen many engagement surveys in my day that led to zero, noticeable change. I hope during these times, organizations will take action on what employees are saying. Even if they don’t answer a survey, they are telling you what they think when they leave. So, ask, listen and take action.
Create personal plans.
What may be more challenging today is scaling every process, policy and plan. What people want in their lives is entirely personal and will vary. This is where the role of the manager is critical. The only way to scale personal preference is through managers understanding their team needs and then planning accordingly. Of course, when personal preference and equity come together, they can be on opposing sides. But there is a compromise in the middle if we seek to understand what people want and what the organization need. Each person should have a personal plan for their role, scope of work, location of work, hours of work and planned interactions with others.
Enable movement.
If you don’t want to lose employees, make sure they have options within your organization. If someone expresses even a hint of “I wish I could do something else or take on a broader role. “ Or even “I am not happy with what I am doing”, this is your cue as a manager to have a career conversation and to think about other roles or in-role growth for the person. Don’t ignore any hints toward this direction. And managers need to feel secure in letting someone go to another role. To truly enable mobility around an organization, managers should be able to backfill jobs. Retaining good people may mean you have to create progression or other roles for them. Therefore, organizational design has become more important to ensure people feel they have options.
Enable flexibility.
I know this one is hard for some roles. Certain jobs simply must show up to an office, store, or plant. But flexibility does not just extend to where work happens. It also extends to when work happens, how often it happens, for how many consecutive days does it happen, etc. I have talked with several people lately who think they want to go part-time so they can work a side hustle or take care of their kids but they are so afraid to tell their employers for fear of being let go or minimized. Organizations can embrace flexibility and think about if everything role has to be full-time or in an office from 8 am - 5 pm. Does it have to be for 9 or 10 hours a day? Does it even have to be five days a week? I know some companies are experimenting with this flex time and place; I wish more would. Going back to personal plans, if you want to retain good talent, flexibility in the role and career progression have to be top of the list.
Ensure greater connection.
There has been a lot of talk about connection these days. Some people mean connecting in person. Some people mean better Wi-Fi. Some people mean more Zoom calls. Connection can mean lots of things and I am finding disconnection exists between employee and manager, employee and skip-level manager, employee and leadership, employee and organizational strategy, objectives, and values. For a true sense of belonging to happen, employees need to feel they are part of something bigger. This is hard to experience in our home offices or even in an office with three other people because everyone else is remote. It is also hard when nothing gets trickled down from the top. Unfortunately, I see many leaders trying to fight the problems of today but they are losing connection with their people. Yes…there are big problems to solve but providing ways for employees to connect with organizational values is critical today and should be a top focus to inspire greater connection to the mother ship.
In our new world of “balance”, things may feel not only out of balance but out of the stratosphere at times. The real conversation needs to happen today on a personal level to ensure people are okay, feeling engaged, and not ready to walk out the door.
Managers need to really listen to subtle hints being dropped and then engage and ask questions. If it is easier to find a new job in a challenging market than to progress in the organization they are already in, then that organization should pause and put into motion the five must-dos above.