The Great Employee Exodus
We have all witnessed the massive departure of employees from the workforce over the past several years. Workers have been quitting their jobs in droves, sometimes without even having another job lined up. If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that employees can quickly lose enthusiasm for their jobs and careers. The disruption to the workplace has only magnified the reality that many workers feel ongoing dissatisfaction with their work-related situations. So how can employers stem this tide and stop the flood of a disappearing workforce?
Re-Engaging Dissatisfied Employees
Recently, SHRM conducted a survey to examine the causes of this troubling exodus and identify some potential remedies employers can adopt to combat it. Their survey found that worker dissatisfaction starts as early as age 25—and it has been here since before the pandemic started.
More than anything, these employees expressed that they crave work that inspires them and creates harmony between who they are and what they do. This makes them more engaged, more productive, and more loyal. They want to feel like they are working toward something larger than themselves, as well as understand how their day-to-day job makes that happen, with autonomy to shape their role in it all.
Leaders who are interested in re-engaging these workers might consider giving them more of what they want and need—alignment, inspiration, agency, and insight—and not just more money.
Here are four ways employers can accomplish this:
- Aim for work-life alignment, not work-life balance. Rather than looking for work-life balance, these workers are looking for work-life alignment. It's not just about the time they spend at work, but about how this work augments or detracts from the time that they spend away from it, too.
Ask your employees how the work they do each day allows them to achieve the career advancement they seek, nurture the families they are growing or manifest their values on a daily basis so that you can work together to address their pain points where it doesn't.
- Find out what drives them and reshape their jobs together. To understand what drives your employees, ask them what brought them to this job and whether that still energizes them. As you learn more, you can assign them to projects that are meaningful to them and reshape their daily, weekly, and quarterly goals accordingly.
You will also deepen your understanding of what inspires them so that you, in turn, can better draw a direct line (for them) between the company's work and their personal needs in the future.
- Engage them in the recruiting process. For many employees, recruiting feels like something that happens to them and their team, not with them, leaving them feeling less involved, less influential, and less important. Recruiting can not only present an opportunity to bring in fresh talent and perspectives, it can also provide space to engage your current key staff to re-spark excitement.
- Connect their work to the larger picture. Help your team see direct lines between their day-to-day, weekly, monthly, or quarterly work, and the company's overall long-term goals. Employees reported that they do better work when they see how the quality of their work matters in the big picture.
Reignite the Spark
We can help relight the fire under your employee recognition program. You are going to need a robust technology platform that will reinvigorate and re-inspire your team. We have that. Contact us today.
