A lot of the focus around the Great Resignation has been on employees and how their attitudes towards work have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s understandable, since they’re the ones resigning.
However, employers can learn a lot from the Great Resignation, too. Thanks to the pandemic, a lot of employees have reevaluated their career goals and their relationship with their jobs. Even people who have just started a business will have to adjust their business plan to keep up with this shifting attitude if they want to not only hire new workers, but also retain the workers they’ve got.
Be Flexible
Thanks to the pandemic, work life and personal life have become interconnected in a way that was unthinkable in pre-pandemic days. People that are working from home often have to take on the dual role of office worker and childcare provider, while the people that still have to show up physically to work have had to figure out how to balance their work responsibilities with their duties as a parent.
The result is that flexibility in a job has become extremely important. According to one survey, over half of employees who left their jobs did so because they needed more flexibility in their schedule. Employers need to recognize this and work with their employees to figure out a schedule that lets them balance their work life with their home life. Of course, each employee is going to have slightly different needs, which leads to the next lesson…
Treat Your Employees Like People
Another big reason employees are resigning in record numbers is that they’re tired of feeling like a small, easily replaceable cog in a huge machine, especially in restaurant chains and retail stores. They want to feel more like a valued employee and less like a biological drone.
While being flexible is a great way to start treating employees like people, you can also make employees feel like individuals by giving them autonomy and the power to make decisions about how they’ll do their job. You can do this in several ways, from asking employees how much time they might need to complete a project to simply giving an employee a list of tasks that need to be completed that day and letting them figure out the best way to complete them. You can also give employees power by encouraging them to talk about the resources they would need to do their jobs better , such as a business credit card.
You can also treat your employees as people by talking with them about how their job is going and regularly asking about if there are any challenges they’re encountering that you can help them overcome. Knowing that your employer has your back can be a huge morale boost for most employees.
Keep Wages Competitive
Of course, while employees may like to feel empowered and listened to, the reason everyone has a job in the first place is to make money. Thanks to the pandemic, more and more employees are starting to question if they’re being paid enough for their services, and thanks to the Internet, they can talk with other people in similar positions about their salaries and just what a good salary for their position should be.
Obviously, as an employer you want to keep costs down, but you also need to realize that employees in a post-pandemic world are more willing to change jobs to increase their paycheck than ever before. It doesn’t help that studies have shown job hoppers can make as much as 50% more than employees who stay in a position over two years.
The end result is that you’ll have to make sure your wages are competitive. While you can and should include benefits like health insurance in an employee’s compensation package, keep in mind that many employees still consider their wages to be the most important part of their compensation. If your wage isn’t competitive, you’ll have a harder time than ever retaining employees.
Keep Your Employees Happy With First Alliance Credit Union
The Great Resignation has caught a lot of employers off guard. However, if you empower your employees and be flexible enough so they can balance their home and work responsibilities, you’ll find a lot less employees looking for greener pastures elsewhere.
You can also help keep your employees happy when you open up a business account at First Alliance Credit Union. You can monitor your accounts online to make sure you have the funds available to pay your employees competitively, and use a business credit card to buy your employees lunch sometime to show you appreciate all their hard work.
