Return to Work: 4 Tactics to Retain Your Talent

Did you know that according to a recent study, 1 in 4 employees plan to find a new job after the pandemic is closer to being under control? Additionally, due to a few factors, the talent pool is more limited than ever. As you build your return to work plans, you should be thinking about how to retain your organization’s talent. These are the four main reasons that employees are thinking about leaving, as well as the best HR strategies that MP’s HR services team suggests you can use.

4 Main Reasons Employees Are Considering Leaving Their Jobs:

1. They’re nervous to return to work during the pandemic.

This will be a common occurrence and a recent study bears out that:

• 51% of employees feel some anxiety about returning to the office before they’re fully vaccinated
• 71% of employees want everyone to be vaccinated before they return to work
• 54% of employees want their return to work plans to include provisions for social distancing

Tactic: MP’s HR compliance experts suggest that employers plan to return their staff slowly and gradually to the workplace. This might mean having employees come in one day a week initially. It could also help to give an end date by which employees will need to return to the office at the target frequency. For example, employers could tell employees they will need to return to the office three or four days a week by the end of the summer. Giving the advance notice will help the employees figure out what they need to do to make sure they’re comfortable with a return. It can also give the employee time to discuss their transition back to the office with their supervisor and ask any questions they may have. If they need an accommodation under the ADA, there will be time for the employer to reach ADA compliance and work with the employee in an interactive process to determine the best course of action.

2. Employees don’t want to return to commuting and operating out of the office.

According to a study by the American Psychological Association, many adults don’t feel completely prepared to return to interacting with people face to face. Per that study, 48% of those vaccinated were still uncomfortable with face-to-face interactions. Per a national survey, a staggering 29% of employed Americans say they’ll quit their jobs if forced to return to the workplace. Whether it relates to social concerns or a simple reluctance to lose the freedom of working from home, employers should be aware that their team may be considering looking for a new role if pressured to end their remote work arrangements.

Tactic: HR experts suggest that employers review job descriptions determine if there can be some flexibility for employees to work from home at least some of the time. Employers may also want to consider using new tools to help their employees continue on remotely. MP offers software for improved collaboration, communication, performance reviews, and tracking productivity. One simple option is to also review employees’ performance over the course of the pandemic. If they worked remotely, did they continue to hit KPIs? Why or why not? This information could help an employer make a decision about whether they could offer their employees the option to work remotely (at least partially), and how they can do so with optimum results.

3. Employees don’t want to return to work because they’d like to find alternative employment to advance their careers

A recent study has shown that 80% of employees want to find a new job to advance their career and make a higher salary. Per the same study, 72% say that during the pandemic they’ve been reconsidering their career goals and skill sets. Over 50% of employees who say they’re considering finding a new role have taken trainings or learned new skills over the course of 2020 and 2021. Many employees have been doing this to prime and polish themselves for the job market.

Tactic: To retain these employees, employers can offer more training opportunities to their team. (MP’s software can help with this task, making it possible to share custom and pre-loaded trainings easily with remote and in-person employees.) Another option is to offer employees the chance to expand their roles, trying out new tasks and projects to gain experience. If an employee would like to grow as a professional, this can be an opportunity to help the company grow, as well.

4. Employees don’t want to return to work because they were considering leaving pre-pandemic.

While the current rates of employees considering a job change are high, some of these people were unhappy in their roles prior to the pandemic. There will always be employees who aren’t a good culture fit, have a hard time completing their job duties, or don’t connect well with their bosses or teammates.

Tactic: It may be best to let these employees go, rather than attempting to retain them. Research has proven repeatedly that burnout can be contagious and affect the entire team. It can also be incredibly costly, having effects like lowered productivity, more sick days and time off from workers, and even loss of talent as employees leave for new roles. Indeed, burnout is so costly because it affects an employer’s most valuable resource: its employees. This kind of impact can directly diminish an organization’s bottom line. If managers and supervisors have communicated with disengaged employees and done everything they can to address it, it may be the best option to let the truly unhappy workers go. Their impact on the rest of the team and its productivity might be too costly. In these cases, MP’s Recruitment Process Outsourcing services can help a company find the best talent to fill in the gaps on their team in a fast and cost-effective way.