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Future-proofing your workforce in the pandemic world.
You’d be forgiven for feeling nervous about the prophecies of doom in the media, with headlines forecasting the Great Resignation. Certainly since March 2020 the world of work has turned upside down. With many people working from home – zooming with colleagues and managing staff remotely.
For many employers, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic hardship, increased difficulty planning ahead, and rapidly changing expectations of employees. These factors, among others, have led to an increase in staff resignations, absences, and redundancies, but with the right approach, you can buck the trend.
How then, do you future-proof your workforce in the pandemic world?
Quite simply, It begins with a conversation. Whatever size the organisation, employee retention is intrinsically linked to people feeling valued and believing that the work they are undertaking is meaningful.
If a manager neglects to check in with their team on a regular basis, disharmony, dissatisfaction or a misalignment of core values will go unnoticed and therefore unremedied.
Depending on your workplace, this conversation can literally be a cuppa and a chat, or a formal survey submitted to all employees. It seems absurdly simple, but unless you ask how your employees are feeling about their work, you won’t know.
The conservations must be ongoing – once a year won’t cut it. Also, you need to address the results in a timely manner, both privately with individuals and publicly where there’s a team or organisational issue.
Depending on your workplace, this conversation can literally be a cuppa and a chat, or a formal survey submitted to all employees. It seems absurdly simple, but unless you ask how your employees are feeling about their work, you won’t know.
The conservations must be ongoing. Once a year won’t cut it. Also, you need to address the results in a timely manner, both privately with individuals and publicly where there’s a team or organisational issue.
All of this forms the basis of ongoing action to create the desired environment and culture.
When communicating a set of values to staff, it is critical that these have been universally agreed upon and it is understood by all that workplace processes and behaviours will link back to these values. This represents your employee value proposition (EVP), or, how an employer perceives the value employees gain by working in an organisation.
Unsurprisingly, the higher the EVP, the lower the staff turnover. This routine workplace health ‘check up’ will go a significant way towards stemming the flow of staff resignations and absences, particularly post-lockdown.
But what if my workplace is already experiencing the Great Resignation?
Firstly, don’t panic. It is logical to assume that if there are staff losses in your organisation, this likely represents a trend across the board. Yes absolutely people have had time to reassess their priorities and work/life balance during the pandemic and job-changing is a natural outcome. Rather than a negative, reframe this movement as an opportunity. A good manager will view a staff loss as a staff shift or swap.
This is a moment in which to welcome new richness into your talent pool.
If you do farewell a good employee, rather than slam the door behind them, see it as a ‘conscious uncoupling’. Leaving on positive terms may result in that person gaining valuable experience in another role, then returning to you with additional skills.
This accords with the pre-pandemic trend of employees favouring shorter stints in different organisations throughout their career, particularly Millennials.
And lastly, be flexible. Expecting employees to resume their pre-COVID work routine is unrealistic. If you are particularly keen to get everyone back into the office on a daily basis then you must highlight the benefits of this to your team in a meaningful way.
Create, identify, and communicate your Workplace Value Proposition. Not just why should your people come back to the office, but also why would they want to?
It’s increasingly likely that the hybrid model of office/home working will continue indefinitely, where practical. Embrace the changes that are occurring and keep focussing on your people. Unthink what you thought you knew about the best ways of working in your organisation, and be open to an evolved way of working . A positive and effective workplace culture will smooth many pandemic-related bumps in the road.
Solving complex business problems is what we do best at Three Chairs Consulting, whether that’s helping organisations buffer the impacts of COVID-19 or any other systems challenge.
Need expert advice to help you through an organisational change?
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