Article by Dr. Ryne Sherman, Chief Science Officer, Hogan Assessments
This newfound sense of employee empowerment can be attributed to multiple causes, but there are three primary areas where organisations can focus to ensure they can a) continue to attract talented workers, and b) retain those who might otherwise be looking elsewhere.
A recent survey conducted by Staffing Industry Analysts found that salary is the most important aspect of their job. Moreover, a variety of surveys during the spring of 2022 showed that employers increased salaries anywhere between 3-8% on average to retain talent. Paying your talent what they are worth is, of course, critical to retaining that talent. However, employers should recognize that if you win employees on salary alone, you will eventually lose them on salary later. That is, while raising wages is one way to keep talent happy, such gains are usually short-lived, especially if the employee is unhappy with other workplace issues. Employers should strive to make sure their wages are fair and competitive, but if they are still facing frequent resignations, they need to look for more deeply rooted issues.
When most of the global workforce moved to remote work in the wake of the pandemic, a survey conducted by Hogan Assessments in Europe revealed that workers found themselves equally productive, if not more so, when working from home. It also highlighted the desire for a hybrid work schedule, with only 13% of respondents wanting to return to the office full-time and 14% who wanted to work from home permanently. That means 73% of European workers prefer flexibility in where they work. Employers demanding workers return to the office full-time potentially face significant talent attraction and retention risks.
Employees want to feel wanted. To fulfill that need and keep workers engaged, it must start at the top of the organisation and trickle down to managers and supervisors leading teams. A recent Gallup poll found that 15% of workers worldwide are considered engaged at work and 70% of the variance in engagement falls solely on the manager. One critical yet simple way for a leader to keep team members is engaged is to let them know they care and that they are valuable and appreciated members of the organisations. But it must be authentic and must be done more so with deeds than words. Although this is obviously important for current employees, the culture it creates is noticeable and attractive for prospective employees.
There are multiple reasons why organisations fail to attract and retain top talent in this new world of work, and there’s no perfect formula to fix it. However, by following these three tips, organisations can position themselves ahead of the competition.
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