Turning “The Great Resignation” into “The Great Eye Opener”

As HR practitioners, we are aware that the brilliant Anthony Klotz from Texas A&M University coined the phrase, “The Great Resignation,” and gave Bloomberg BusinessWeek an interview in May of 2021 Quit Your Job: How to Resign After Covid Pandemic - Bloomberg where he stated that “The great resignation is coming.” And, “When there’s uncertainty, people tend to stay put, so there are pent-up resignations that didn’t happen over the past year.” While millions of Americans have left the workforce, it’s not all doom and gloom. Employers should focus on assessing and considering realigning their organizational strategy with their “human” resources strategy. Employers should focus on areas including, but not limited to, recruiting and retention, benefits offerings, and analysis of current HR systems.

Recruiting and Retention

Organizations can recruit the best and brightest in the market to fill their open positions, but retaining employees is key. Organizations must consider building a trusting relationship with employees beginning with the interview process. The tangible and intangible costs of turnover are exponential. In an January 11, 2022 article written by Katie Heinz at Built In, The True Costs of Employee Turnover | Built In, she states that turnover can cost a company 1.5-2 times the employee’s salary, depending on the individual level of seniority. And that cost rises if the position is one that requires a specific skillset.

Benefits

There are currently five different generations in the workplace. Organizations should take a deep dive to assess the benefits they currently offer and think about whether or not the benefits offered will attract and retain new employees and retain current employees. What one generation may consider an important benefit, another may not consider as important. See Deloitte’s Global 2022 Gen Z & Millennial Survey, Global Millennial & Gen Z Survey 2022 | Deloitte Insights for some information on what is important to the millennial generation, and Generation Z.

Current HR Systems

If you are an organization who is still tracking metrics manually, consider researching and purchasing software to automate processes. A HR comprehensive HR system includes the full employee experience from recruitment to termination of employment. If an organization does not want or need a comprehensive system, it could be advantageous to utilize pieces of a system such as the applicant tracking software, which allows for keeping record of all applicants for all positions posted, the source of their application (i.e., LinkedIn, agency, referral) as well as building a pipeline of future candidates for a role.

So, while “The Great Resignation” has impacted some organizations heavily, it is an opportunity for employers to use it as an “eye opener.” It is always a good idea to periodically assess and regroup, but there is no better time than the current time to assess, identify gaps, and realign current strategies.

If you are interested in assessing your current human resources strategies, contact IntegriStar for more information.