Combating the Great Resignation 

By the end of 2021, many CEOs flushed out the possibility of the infamous Great Resignation knocking on their doors, and the rest were able to cope with its aftermath. People simply assume these firms might have sensed it coming! Frankly, there’s no room for intuition. It’s simple – the Great Resignation didn’t affect these firms because they already had their employee engagement streamlined. They took care of their employees’ well-being right from the start as they were able to anticipate the factors which could lead to the Great Resignation. So, such firms remained unbothered and untouched by this movement.

In my previous blog, I painted a clear picture of the effects of this movement on a firm’s retention rate. The narrative dug deep into discussing the mindset of Generation Y and Z – as they are most likely to leave. The trauma of the Great Resignation hit the firms so hard that they still aren’t over it. These firms saw some of the best assets putting their papers down. Even in the present day, there are firms that have no clue how to cope with this situation. Seeing the huge number of employees leaving, these firms are only panicking and are confused about what measures to take. Whether to retain the members on the exit path with a fatty pay package or pace up the hiring process? In such cases, the firm usually has one strategy – put the recruitment process on the front line and expect wonders to happen. If that’s how one intends to combat the Great Resignation, there’s no result. By speeding up the hiring process, you’re just replacing the new resources with the ones who left, leading to an endless cycle!

Sitting on the hot seat titled CEO, it’s natural for me to know the importance of my members staying in my team. To identify what’s keeping the flame of the Great Resignation alive, I spoke with a few HRs. Throughout this movement, these HRs have been meticulously monitoring the various reasons why a majority of the firms are finding it hard to get over this agonizing phase. 

Let’s move ahead!

HRs Take on This Method

Let’s not forget that this current issue has a pandemic spin on it. However, that wasn’t the only thing that bothered the firms. When the pandemic arrived, it shook the entire working structure of a firm. Employees became more concerned about physical well-being, financial stability, and psychological health. 

The firms that remain unperturbed during the walk-out phase already assessed the concerns and addressed them far ahead of time. It helped them bridge the expectation-fulfillment gap between an employee and its organization.

If an employee is looking out for a balanced working environment, just recognition of effort, and a flexible leave policy – a firm offering those automatically scores high in employee satisfaction and strengthens the morale of the employees. Such an organization naturally gains a high retention ratio. 

Now, let me take you to the various ways through which Ergode and many firms acknowledge the criticality of this balance and focus on narrowing the gap.

The Antidote

Despite using the term “expectations” over and over again, the question of “what are these expectations” still remains unanswered. 

Is it flexible work hours?

Is it responsibilities that match a profile?

Is it a need for training?

For a firm, it is imperative to dig out more questions like these and assess the expectations of an employee. A decade ago, my team and I followed the same strategy in Ergode. The aim was to put forward the realistic expectations of the employees and foster engagement within the organization by fulfilling them. So, together my team of HRs and Managers sought honest opinions from all the employees. We figured that the employee expectations can be broadly classified under four major categories – Skill Enhancement, Talk, Appraisal, and Culture. This made for the development of a shielded approach, we called STAC, to save us all from the harrowing Great Resignation. 

Skill Enhancement

Employees who missed the chance to upgrade their skills and knowledge along with the change in the environment, tend to feel detached from their work and start underperforming. This entire situation can improve if firms train their employees and give them an opportunity to become future assets. At this juncture, a skill enhancement program helps employees sharpen their skills, minimize errors, and perform better. It helps them meet workplace standards, attain goals, and deliver productive output, which eventually makes them feel more connected with their roles and responsibilities. 

I’d completely agree that stimulating “belongingness” among the employees isn’t low-hanging fruit. Hence, the first step towards skills enhancement would be to train them right from the day of their induction in order to make them familiar with the basics.

Amid the pandemic, nearly all of the global corporates relied on technology. The millennials learned quickly, however, some found it challenging to grasp the way. This hampered their productivity.  In Ergode, we led focused training sessions to help them pick up the tools and resources that play a major role in getting their work accomplished smartly. 

When I noticed that a lot of employees have multiple skills, the idea of elevating those skills struck us all. After some brainstorming sessions, we started a skill enhancement program. Under this program, employees possessing different skills are given an opportunity to work on what they love. The outcome was exemplary. We not only retained the people but also identified an additional set of skills within the same people. At the end of the session, we landed up with a group of people who are smarter, more efficient, confident, and ready to take up other roles alongside their regular tasks. 

It’s not a wonder, they didn’t search for a reason to leave.

Talk

Talking is the current day retention practice. The constant interaction throughout the employment journey brings the answer to the question, “Why are my members leaving” much ahead of time. I believe I don’t have to underscore the importance of how much an employee’s voice matters, and how important it is for a firm to listen.

Practicing active listening helps in making wise and mindful decisions. The team that listens to each other makes for quick grasping of ideas, opinions, and views. In tandem, “listening” helps managers get a clear picture of their team members’ expectations. Besides making the operation transparent, the listening practice brings the pain points, hurdles, and speed breakers of the members out in the open. This practice of open communication helps introduce path-breaking ideas, instills confidence, and underlines organizational level issues that need quick redressal.

At Ergode we run a program called “The Voice,” under which an employee raises their concerns against any possible issues they find bothersome. Choosing between staying anonymous or revealing their identities, employees are empowered to be completely fearless, while raising their voices against any trouble they may face. It helps us in getting to know even the minutest threat that may trigger the employees to take a severance action. We attend to every query, put our minds to them, and take action to redress.

We saw that the program increased the trust in the system and reinforced the bond between them and the organization. 

Appreciation

The term is highly coveted in the corporate world. Half of an employee’s will and dedication to work depends on appreciation. When employees find appraisals unsatisfactory and feel unvalued for their work, their motivation level drops drastically. They start to compare monetary benefits and responsibilities with other firms, and, quite quickly than anticipated, they put their papers down. Unfortunately, in the process, even the assets of the companies happen to leave.

When I tried to find out how to improve this situation, I arrived at a few ways to appreciate employees. 

Start with the teams. A manager’s habit of patting their employees’ backs when they are performing becomes the first source of motivation. This direct recognition from a reporting manager boosts the morale of the employee. 

The second is internal branding. At Ergode, there are ways through which an employee is appreciated for achieving milestones in their professional and personal life. Whether it is a master’s degree or a dream car, showing appreciation is another way “to be with them.” In this way, the proximity between an organization and an employee increases. 

Internal branding can take many forms, such as emailers, praise on the employee portal, recognition awards, or tagging stars of the month. This results in feeling appreciated and recognized which seals the crack through which employees and assets could go seep out. Moreover,  it helps the employees push barriers to becoming an A player.

Culture

How interactive do you get when you address anyone by their first name. If you think, it changes the perspective to work together, then you are already promoting better performance, sharing candid feedback, and boosting innovation. 

Using the first names in a workspace breaks down the rigidity in the atmosphere. People feel more unified, easy to approach, and open to discussing opinions. When a firm respects diversity and employees’ opinions, and adopts an open “culture,” then the firm prospers quickly. 

At Ergode we practice something similar and we call it – Team First. The practice allows for laying the emphasis on people and their work. Managers, team leaders, supervisors, and individual contributors host interactive sessions and bring the best out of the team. This is more of an engagement-oriented approach where frequent team hostings develop a healthy culture in the firm. Slowly, employees get along as they share the common goals and get aligned with the vision of the firm. 

This isn’t that difficult to employ.

In many webinars and sessions, I have heard some great words on employee engagement and fostering culture. People often mention different ways like unwinding activities, open mics, and one-to-one sessions. However, I often feel that the attachment to a role is deeply rooted in the mind of an employee. Hence, if an employee isn’t satisfied with his or her responsibilities, the person will leave someday or the other. 

Let’s Change

After discussing the methodology to bridge the cardinal expectations-fulfillment gap, it’s high time for all firms to implement them. It took us months to scan the changing needs and mindsets of each and every employee. And now, we implemented the best engagement practices at Ergode that are continually boosting us to explore ways in becoming one of the top-desired workplaces. 

These were my personalized strategies, which prevented Ergode from the wave of the Great Registration.

What strategies did you come up with? Share your thoughts, let’s open a discussion and spread the word.