CEOs, despite honest efforts to balance gender roles, find a majority of good people exiting their careers…especially women and minorities.
In April of this year, it was announced that 4 million Americans, or 2.7 percent of the total, had left their jobs. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2.9 percent of workers left their jobs in August 2021. Workers, like their CEOs, are no longer willing to labor for a wage.
This is true even in the face of a pandemic and economic uncertainty. Employees today want a lot more from their employers: a sense of purpose, a caring and empathic workplace, flexibility, and a superior employee value proposition. Employee incentives, bonuses, and awards are one solution.
Staff members are asking that companies address their individual circumstances and requirements. But we’re also living and working in an age where employee demands have never been more diverse. With five generations currently in the workforce, workers are at very different phases in their lives. The need for customized and meaningful benefits has skyrocketed.
Flexibility, remote or hybrid work, transparency, and empathy are no longer “nice-to-haves,” but rather “must-haves.”
Companies that want to stay competitive and retain and engage their best employees will have to get inventive in order to stand out from the competition. Fortunately, there are things that businesses can do to attract and keep employees by providing enough benefits. Collaboration with the CEO and the entire C-Suite is a must. According to research, empathy is the most important leadership skill. This explains why talent shortages in the U.S. are at a 10-year high.
You’ll almost certainly require more friends. Here’s how to get them.
Ensuring leadership buy-in to offer employees the benefits they not only want and need but also expect, is critical.
HR has been requesting a “seat at the table” for years. It’s crucial to work together with your CEO to invest in your people. That way, the rest of the company can generate outcomes. Requesting additional funding is one of the most important aspects to consider.
Obtain employee buy-in for DEI efforts.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are all on the minds of the world’s greatest corporations, but how do they establish policies and initiatives that genuinely promote them? One approach to do this is to first take a pulse of your employees in order to better understand their needs and desires.
Many times, it appears that choices on well-being and benefit offers are made by leadership and other senior employee groups. But how often do firms genuinely reach out to their entire workforce to ask what they need? Would they discover that the existing policies and benefits were inadequate if they did this more frequently and with greater curiosity?
CEO action is required.
Now’s the time for HR to step up and make a difference. Today, there are more inventive and out-of-the-box solutions than ever before, as well as solutions that cater to the demands of a diverse workforce. HR should question their brokers and consultants on what’s new in the market to educate themselves on these offers.
HR and the C-suite must pay attention to the possibilities, as well as the demands of their employees, to ensure that they are providing benefits that are the most beneficial to them. Finally, HR must work internally to determine the best communication approach for ensuring that employees understand and use the programs and policies put in place to help them.
Future leaders understand that they must reconsider how they arrange the employee-employer relationship. They must recognize that employee demands are neither simple nor linear and that in order to recruit, engage, and retain talent, they must first understand their workforce’s needs, then establish a strategy, and quickly implement it. There is no time to wait a year or more for this process to complete.
Because talent is evaporating, now’s the time for reform and growth. By listening to the employee’s voice, businesses can make significant progress with little financial input and easily quantifiable results.
