The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 4 million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021. Resignations peaked in April and have stayed abnormally high for several months, including a record-breaking 10.9 million job vacancies at the beginning of August. This phase has become known as ‘the Great Resignation’.

Top Causes:

• frustration regarding flexible working

• organizational culture 

• workers’ fatigue

• general employee satisfaction

Talent retention is now a critical business objective; with the renewable energy industry growing at such an impressive rate, organizations need to hold onto their employees and build stable foundations for expanding teams. Embedding specific evaluation and retention strategies is essential.

How do you retain top talent? 

1. Evaluate 2-4 times a year with specific milestones for employees to move towards. Benefit for the employee: The tangible feeling of career progression. Benefit for the company: Improved morale and constant improvement in skills and performance.

2. Reward performance and recognise improvements. Set these rewards at the beginning of the quarter or year so that employees are aware of upcoming benefits should your competition approach them. Benefit for the employee: The feeling of being valued in the long term and motivation to excel. Benefit for the company: Peace of mind that there’s motivation to stay beyond salary competition. 

3. Re-align your benefits to the reality of current needs and desires. Benefit for the employee: Reduces general stress and pressure, allowing more energy to go into the work they do. Benefit to the company: Significantly reduces competitors' chances of poaching. 

4. Actively address your office culture and shift it where needed. Honestly assess where it is upsetting individuals and map out steps to change it. Benefit to the employee: Feeling safer and able to work without distraction. Benefit to the company: Happier employees who stay because they love their environment and are less likely to request increases to compensate for their unhappiness. 

Carry out evaluations and appraisals

Have individual, team, and company-wide expectations been made clear to each member of staff? Giving employees access to the metrics they need for success will mean they can more readily take ownership of their career growth. Schedule evaluation sessions that offer individual feedback and an opportunity for employees to raise their own concerns, and implement timeframes for delivery of specific goals. 

“Without clear and structured ways of engaging in performance
evaluation or appraisal, leaders will rely on bias. This is especially 
problematic when there’s a lack of diversity among the people
making these types of decisions.” Dion Bullock, Bravely’s DEIB Strategy Lead 

How: Map out a spreadsheet with rows of performance points and columns of performance measures. Mark where the employee is currently at and work together to constructively list ways of improving these. In the next appraisal, the mark can be moved to the next column when improvement has been noted. 

Make a section to receive feedback from your employee as well. This will lead to micro adjustments your company can make along the way to prevent employees leaving. 

Outline structured bonus payouts 

Bonuses can be an incentive to help employees stay motivated and engaged at work. There are many structures, and usually businesses choose plans that work best for their size and net worth. Introducing a structured bonus payout will help retain your top performers.

Research also suggests that giving your employees company ownership boosts happiness and staff retention rates. A recent government survey found the majority of respondents prefer to work for an employee-owned company rather than an investor or state-controlled business. As a study in 2018 showed, employee shareowners tend to have better jobs, benefits, earnings, and wealth. Make your success their success.

Promote career progression

Employees’ values and needs haven’t changed: what has changed is finding a company that shares the same values and needs. During the Great Resignation, transparency has become more essential than ever. A clear route for career progression increases employee trust and encourages consistent development, which means workers are more likely to stay at your organization. 

Although the majority of workers state that their job title doesn’t reflect their level of responsibility, most employees are looking for growth opportunities. They want the ability to influence company-wide change and carve out a clear future for themselves. 

Once an employee’s career path becomes clouded with their current employer, they may begin looking for a company that can offer them a clearer growth trajectory.

Offer benefits packages

Be upfront about your benefits, and make sure they’re clearly outlined as soon as possible. Too often, benefits are discussed too late in the recruitment process, which then leads to inflated salary expectations. Know how your benefits compare to others and be honest about them. 

Statistics show that 72% of workers who received at least one expanded benefit during the pandemic said they were satisfied with the support from their employer, compared to 44% of employees who didn’t receive an expanded benefit package. 

Studies show that the most valued employee benefit is a flexible work schedule - including remote working. Over 71% of respondents said it was in their top three most important benefit areas. Saving both time and money on commuting were listed as top reasons for this preference.

Address workplace culture

This hopefully won’t come as a surprise, but people generally leave roles because of the culture around them. To retain the best talent, you need to:

• Know what makes you a great company to work for, and why you’re better than your competitors. It’s also important to identify the areas where you’re not, potentially gain inspiration from similar companies, and implement a variation of their ideas and strategies if possible. Top tip: Send around anonymous evaluations for employees to complete each quarter.

• Make employees feel seen and valued. Pay attention to the small details like knowing names, smiling and asking general life questions. Discover the bigger elements that are important to them, and the actions from leadership that they place value on. Top tip: Encourage a culture where senior staff engage with employees in passing.

• Assess your company values, beliefs, and attitudes and ensure they’re a reality in practice. Research what’s working well for similarly structured companies. Now make them known to your employees. Top tip: Create content to put up around the office or regular correspondence that goes to the team. 

• Ensure you’re adopting the right approach and encouraging diversity of thought within your workforce. This allows creativity and top performance. Top tip: Facilitate cross-division collaboration, informal social settings, and company-wide events or meetings to stimulate different conversations.

Embed wellbeing and mental health practices

The pandemic took a toll on everyone; many employers lacked sufficient support for their workers, meaning tough times got tougher. Only two-thirds of respondents in a recent survey by Modern Health believed their employers cared about their mental wellbeing.

By prioritising your employees’ mental health and wellbeing at work, you are making it clear that these aspects are valued within your business. Providing support such as mental health hotlines, on-site therapists or allowances, and access to wellbeing aids like therapeutic apps can help you do so. 

Ensuring work hours are adhered to also shows you value general well-being. If people are working beyond their hours, swiftly address why and implement solutions to prevent this going forward.  

Flexible working is another way to increase talent retention and development - an innovative approach to work that was adopted across the board during the pandemic. Over a third of respondents in a recent Beamery survey said their work-life balance was better at the height of the pandemic, and 42% want flexible working to continue. As a result, employers are embracing more flexible schedules. It’s important to be aware of balance here too: ensure this doesn’t mean people are over burdened with video meetings.

Conclusion

The Great Resignation is causing apprehension for employers in a number of industries. However, by introducing steps to reward, evaluate and increase talent management and retention, you begin to build a robust strategy that can be embedded throughout your organization. 

For more information about what we can do to help, book a quick chat.