“We haven’t seen anything quite like the situation we have today,” says Daniel Zhao, a labor economist with the jobs site Glassdoor. The pandemic has given people all kinds of reasons to change direction. Some people are leaving for better pay. Others may have worked in jobs that weren’t a good fit but were waiting out the pandemic before they quit. And some workers are leaving positions because they desire a more flexible work environment. Here are some steps you can take to quell turnover in your department.
Cultivate a strong company culture.
Your company culture is the shared set of values, beliefs, and attitudes that guide your organization. It’s reflected in the way you treat your customers and employees, and impacts the types of candidates you attract during the recruiting process. Create a positive, inclusive workplace culture by welcoming individuals from all backgrounds and celebrating their differences. Finally, Connecting people to a purpose is an important way of helping them feel good about your company. Why? Because there is a high correlation between the way your employees feel about the company and the way your customers do. A strong company culture boosts productivity, decreases turnover and improves employee engagement.
Offer flexibility when you can
The old way of thinking: the workday operates on a strict schedule of 8:00 am-5:00 pm; It’s the only way managers can comprehend work gets done. But the modern workplace is changing rapidly. And as the world of business marches onward, it marches toward a greater level of flexibility and employee autonomy. Sure, 100% WFH scenarios may not be something you can or should offer. But there are other ways to appear flexible: flextime, compressed workweeks, job sharing, hybrid, and part-time opportunities are all different ways to offer flexible work arrangements without going fully remote. And, with more than 70% of workers wanting flexible work arrangements, showing you have some room to bend can help attract workers who are considering new roles that allow them to put their personal priorities and well-being first.
Put health and safety at the forefront of business
As we take steps towards re-opening economies worldwide, popularly known as the “return to work,” businesses must take into account not just physical safety of their employees but also their mental well-being. Yes, return to work is happening, but parents are often still needing to facilitate education for their children from home; some people have lost loved ones to COVID-19 and may still have complicated feelings about intermingling; and there are no doubt stressful political encounters that can affect moods, outlooks, and work performance. Precautionary measures such as temperature checks, touch-free environments, mask-wearing, moratoriums on business travel, and physical space requirements are some ways to help physically stop the spread of germs in the workplace. But making sure that mental health is a priority by offering mental health days, access to psychologists and psychiatrists, and the “permission” to treat mental health with the same importance as physical health are some of the first steps you can take to cultivate a healthy work environment.