Most Critical Factors in Talent Retention Today
We are in difficult times passing through one of the worst health crises of our times. The crisis has brought uncertainties as far as the business scenario is concerned and also the talent ecosystem now needs to be looked at with a different perspective. The organizations are surely struggling with strategies to retain high-quality and performing talent.
Having mentioned the scenario about the current crisis the time tested principles and practices of talent will still remain the same in addition to the fact that companies need to do more on the mental wellness of the employees which will go a long way in ensuring that when an employee’s personal and professional life is on the edge, it’s the best leaders who can help their team experience positive emotions.
This is the key to keeping your team mentally strong. When you have resilient employees then you have a more resilient organization.
Mental and Emotional Wellbeing
We all know that mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and through adulthood. One needs to ensure that employees take positive steps right now to improve resilience and emotional well-being.
Organization Culture
In the age of social media, reputation today flows seamlessly. If an organization is branded as anything but progressive and cool, talent will shun it. It applies as much to conventional brick and mortal entities as to new-age platforms. Today’s talent values a corporate culture that lets them learn quickly has an open culture and shares its growth plans with them. Gen Y certainly wants to know where they fit in the overall scheme of things and what the future holds for them. They ideally want an organization that offers them ample personal and professional growth opportunities.
Competitive Salaries and Rewards
In today’s world, a competitive salary is a given. The logic that competition is bigger and has greater revenue so it can afford to pay more and offer greater rewards to its employees than we do, no longer cuts ice with the talent. Sooner or later, they will move, if compensations are not matched competitively.
Recognition Programmes
Given the rising affluence and explosion of social media, today’s talent and particularly Gen Y has grown up in a very different environment than has been the case with previous generations. Recognition and not reprisal have been the driving factor for them to achieve excellence. This is the kind of environment they also expect from an organization. Recognition programmes today, play a key role in employee retention.
Challenging Work Environment
Talent today and especially Gen Y, more than any previous generations, are graduating with a dynamic mix of academic and work experience that has them positioned to contribute from day one. They are not interested in boring jobs- they seek challenging work right from the start.
Work Flexibility
Talent also sees themselves doing work everywhere- except in a cubicle. They definitely want flexible hours and schedules because they are great believers in work-life balance and want to live life to the fullest. Jobs, today, need to factor in such changing personal traits.
Meaningful Engagement
A consistent approach to engage the talent and workforce is a must. Engaging the workforce on innovative practices and tools, on how they can contribute more and more, their careers, their development needs can’t be supplemented with anything else. Multiple communication channels in the organization instill confidence in the minds of the people and at the same time leaders need to ensure how to weed out the grapevines
Sense of Purpose
Talent takes pride in associating with the organizations having strong sense of purpose. Do organizations today have a winning employee-facing value proposition? The organization’s culture comes together and is manifest in its sense of purpose and the big story. Culture is story and story is culture. The organization’s needs to have a story and it’s important how do they tell the story. The sense of purpose of an organization’s existence needs to answer the 4 fundamental questions. What do they believe in, Where are they headed, what makes them special and how do they make difference in people’s lives?
Vibrant Workplaces
The vibrant workplace signifies energy, positivity, and growth – characteristics we desire for the environment where we spend the majority of our waking hours. A vibrant workplace draws people to it – quality, talented employees want to work in a healthy context and become a part of the life-exuding process.
HR Policies
Progressive HR policies which are people-centric and ever-evolving with the changing needs are big points of attraction not only for retaining but also attracting the talent from outside. What an employee expects from these policies is objectivity, transparency, and fair play. The organizations need to benchmark the best and build flexibility in administering these policies.
