The term "Great Resignation" has been bandied about in the media, but what does it actually imply for employers? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 4.5 million people quit their jobs in November 2021, continuing a trend from previous months and indicating a seismic shift in the labour market, in which young professionals are leaving companies in droves for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, better pay, improved culture, flexibility, and work-from-home options.
According to the Harvard Business Review, young professionals between the ages of 30 and 45 who are in the middle of their careers are the most affected. From 2020 to 2021, this group's resignation rate increased by more than 20%.
The Work Institute, a major workforce research business, has issued a detailed study on employee retention, estimating that turnover costs around 33% of an employee's yearly income. This is a significant expense for organisations, making employee satisfaction more crucial than ever.
Employers will have to adapt if they want to keep their top employees. This is your best chance to keep your business running smoothly, maintain a high level of overall morale, and guarantee that your team continues to perform at its peak.
Employees are attempting to strike a balance between their employment and other elements of their lives. Physical health, spiritual well-being, and personal connections are all important aspects of living a complete life. Because balancing many elements of wellbeing is critical to living a satisfying life, embracing remote work corresponds with the Full Life Framework, which I created to help individuals live life to the fullest.
By allowing people to balance their employment with other non-work hobbies and responsibilities, shifting away from commuting has given workers more time and has helped everyone tremendously. You have more time to spend with your family and more time to pursue hobbies, fitness, and other activities that you enjoy.
The elimination of commuting has also cut employee costs and given them more budget flexibility, since they no longer have to pay for transportation, restaurant meals, or work attire.
Workers value the ability to work from home for a variety of reasons, including physical comfort. People can personalise their workstation to match their specific requirements. They have control over the temperature, desk setting, and physical environment. They are also more likely to choose more comfortable apparel rather than the constricting, uncomfortable formal attire.
People no longer stop by your desk for long discussions or non-productive activities, alas. In the absence of the hectic background noise of an office atmosphere, it becomes simpler to concentrate.
Increased productivity and a better balance between work and home life have had a favourable impact on employees' mental health, resulting in a decrease in overall stress levels. With this in mind, the best course of action is to embrace remote work and do it properly.
With remote work being the best way forward, we need to make sure that it works for both employers and their workers. There are important culture and process changes that employers need to navigate to be successful.
Leadership in a successful remote workplace must start at the top and work its way down. Leaders must feel comfortable delegating tasks to their teams without micromanaging them. We risk adding unneeded stress to our teams if we don't manage our teams in this manner. We may leverage our own and our employees' talents and experience by avoiding micromanagement.
Delegation is a crucial characteristic of a strong leader because it allows employees to push themselves and gives them ownership over their work, which increases their job happiness. This is the most important, and sometimes the most difficult, shift in the way a team performs if micromanagement was or is part of the culture.
The need of establishing critical and measurable output is something I learned from Andrew S. Grove's book High Output Management. Teams should be judged on their accomplishments rather than the number of hours they put in. Promoting a productive culture entails prioritising production over the number of hours spent working on a project. To put it another way, employees are no longer rewarded for working longer hours, but rather for achieving their goals.
Asynchronous work does not necessitate that all team members be online at the same time. Asynchronous work is encouraged at Lifehack. Everyone on the team can work efficiently without having to wait for others to finish a task. Trusting your skilled personnel and allowing them to operate independently is the key to asynchronous work.
It's still vital to train your personnel in a remote setting. Prior to today's work-from-home options, our workers would negotiate a new role or duties with no guidance and little available training. Workers would learn their jobs through interacting with different groups in the company.
We no longer have this framework in a remote workplace, therefore we must be very careful about how we train our employees. Specific training objectives must be developed, and training goals must be documented in a clear, easy-to-understand format.
Online courses are becoming more significant than ever as a preferred training delivery option for effectively scaling training. Strong materials, SOPs, guidelines, and FAQs should be included in courses. On the market today, there are many degrees of Learning Management Systems (LMS) that allow you to create, manage, and deliver learning content. Some platforms will merely host your learning materials, while others will be capable of tracking and measuring completion. What you chose for your organisation will be determined by your available funding and internal resources to manage these projects.
An essential remark about studying content: it's critical to conduct a thorough review in a remote setting. Gone are the days when training is developed but never used, or when it is allowed to become obsolete. Training must be accessible, relevant, and up-to-date to be successful in a virtual environment.
Resource groups are another excellent learning method. Employee-led, and usually focused on some sort of learning, information sharing, or societal theme, such as diversity and inclusion. These groups are an excellent approach to promote social interaction and learning.
It's also critical to stay in touch with employees while working from home. The easiest way to do this is through technology, which allows everyone to stay connected through messaging apps and video calling platforms. With so many collaboration options to select from, great teamwork can still happen in the virtual world. Basecamp, for example, is our team's go-to project management and communication platform.
Encourage employees to schedule time to connect with coworkers on their calendars. It's fine to meet up every now and then to catch up. It's also critical to keep an eye on employee productivity. While the majority of workers have showed great levels of productivity while working from home during the epidemic, there may be some outliers. Without the drive of an in-person environment, some workers may find it difficult to stay focused. Ensure that your leaders continue to check in with these folks, provide the necessary assistance, and assist them in transitioning to effective remote work if necessary.
Encourage employees who are having trouble staying motivated to exercise strong self-management. Establishing a good routine for them will be crucial in assisting them in managing their newfound flexibility.
Employee morale and workers' individual mental health must not suffer as a result of the enhanced productivity we will experience in a remote environment. Working remotely changes the way we engage with one another because we don't have the same face-to-face connection.
We must be aware of this danger and take actions to mitigate it. Virtual social events during the workday are an excellent method to keep your employees' spirits high. To demonstrate the relevance of these types of activities, arrange them during business hours wherever possible. Combining learning and social engagement is a terrific approach to make these types of activities not only enjoyable but also productive.
There are some additional perks to consider for future team members, in addition to the excellent benefits of embracing a remote work environment for your present firm. Creating a remote work structure will provide you access to a larger pool of talent for various roles inside your company. You will no longer be confined to the talent pool around your headquarters and will be able to hire talented people from all over the world.
Offering remote work as part of your total benefits package will help you stand out from competitors who have yet to adjust to this new reality. For many competent professionals, working from home has become a desirable perk.
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