A lot about work cultures and corporate scenarios have changed ever since the unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic came into the picture. 2020 knocked on every door as a year of uncertainties and put the world upside down for once. But incredible is humanity’s spirit to stare every challenge in the eye and bounce back stronger. We did the same all through the pandemic, and we ought to be utterly proud of that, isn’t it?
But let us come back to talking about corporate culture and how the pandemic has overhauled the same. In 2020, we saw trends like remote working or telecommuting completely take over as workplaces remained shut for months. Besides, a lot has changed parallel to this in terms of employee engagement and employee retention. The prerequisites for high employee retention have not remained the same post-pandemic.
In 2023, organizations and business leaders will have to do a lot more than what they have been doing traditionally to retain top talents. Let us understand how retaining employees’ essentials have changed this short period through this blog.
What are the traditional ways of retaining top-notch talent?
Employee retention is of great significance for any business leader and organization. You do not want to keep losing talents and replacing them repeatedly, for that disrupts the balance. It takes genuine effort and time to hire people, and repeating the process to keep rehiring is a sheer waste of time and money. Talking about wasteful expenditure, as per an article from Forbes, the costs of employee turnover add immensely to a given organization’s financial burden. To quantify this further, losing an employee can cost the employer as much as one-third of his annual income. For this simple reason, you would not want your organization to get caught up in this vicious cycle of hiring and then rehiring.
Over the years, there has been a lot of discussion about the various requisites of making employees stay. The following are some of the best strategies that have been agreed upon by multiple experts and employers. The standard practices for ensuring high employee retention include
- Recruiting the ‘right’ people
- Treating employees humanely
- Giving regular performance reviews
- Rewarding and recognizing employees on their accomplishments
- Providing peer-to-peer feedback
All these above criteria are highly relevant, and they are crucial pillars of a workplace environment that rides on high employee retention. No one doubts the significance of these practices. They will always remain among the best ways to bring down employee turnover. However, let us now look at employee retention from the lens of 2023. And with the realization that things have undergone a complete transformation in last 2years. Do you think these strategies will be enough to retain your best talents? Will they suffice to create a culture of high employee engagement?
When we start imagining what would it take to sustain employees in 2023, doesn’t the picture seem a little incomplete? Don’t you think there is a need to add more to the above list? Indeed, you need to pay heed to some more practices to create high employee retention in 2023. The working trends changed after the pandemic’s onset, but the prerequisites of winning employee loyalty have changed drastically. Next, without much ado, let us look at what more will it take for you to keep your best employees with you.
What do you need to do differently in 2023 to ensure your employees stay with you?
1. Exhibit more empath
2020 was a terrible year for most people, making the world realize the worth of empathy. Many employers and organizations felt the need to be more empathetic towards their workers in such challenging times. Hence, over time, empathy has emerged as a vital workplace virtue for employees. Workers are happy to stick to employers who were empathetic to them during the shutdowns triggered by the pandemic. Many workers now feel that workplace empathy is imperative to keep working for a given organization.
The Empathy Study by the Chief Strategy Officer at Businessolver offers some critical insights to substantiate. The findings stated that 90% of employees stated that employers should care for their employees’ mental health to retain them. This makes it evident that almost all workers have identified the need to have empathetic leaders. So, if you are keen on retaining your most productive employees, you will have to be a more compassionate leader.
2. Offer greater flexibilit
Remote working is the new buzzword in the corporate world. Thanks to some significant technological innovations, most organizations remained operative even in lockdowns. But the work from culture was not limited to the pandemic. Remote working is the way forward for all industries, and it has incredible benefits for employees and employers. You have to recognize that employees like autonomy and flexibility in a remote setup.
Many workers decide on continuing their jobs based on the flexibility offered to them. The more flexibility you provide to your employees, the higher are their chances of staying. When people work from home, they like to manage their work in their way. There is nothing wrong with that as long as they meet their deadlines. So, in 2021, to keep your team intact, you need to offer greater yet cautious flexibility to your workers. You will also need to empower your employees by giving them more autonomy.
3. Tweak your hiring process
Let us go back to the basics of fostering a culture of high employee retention. It makes complete sense that you need to hire the right people to fit a given job role, not quit. But how are you going to define the ‘right people’ in 2021? Of course, there would be preset criteria for every job role devised carefully and thoughtfully. However, in 2021, you need to look for some additional qualities in your talent pool. What are these qualities?
Well, to begin with, since there is widespread automation in every role, your new hire should have the required technical proficiency. He should know about the necessary tools needed while working remotely and for internal communication. To cite an example, you may hire a person for an accounting position who is a college topper and is flawless in his accounting skills. But if he is not great at using the various tools and software needed for brisk accounting, he can be a misfit. Hence, it is essential to hire based on how working trends will be in 2023.
Besides technical proficiency, you need people who can multitask, are willing to take additional responsibilities, and have a creative zeal. You should understand the simple fact that competitiveness in 2023 is not the same as it was in 2019. You know, need people who have multiple skills to take up various roles. Otherwise, when you put added responsibilities on people with limited skills, they may leave. It is time you make some progressive changes to your online hiring process!
To wrap up, the expectations that employees have from their employers have changed with time to wrap up. Besides, there is now a need to refine the hiring processes to ensure that the hired people can handle sophisticated tools and pressure situations well. You need more dynamic and versatile employees to delegate work better. All these practices will eventually add to the levels of employee retention. Remember, employee loyalty is a significant attribute of employee retention, and you need to win your team’s hearts by portraying gratitude, empathy, and flexibility. If you can win their heart, you will have them for the longest.
