Winning The Talent Wars
A new survey from hiring software company Greenhouse finds that more than two-thirds of organizations expect a dramatic increase in attrition in the second half of 2021. They further find that 53% of employers believe the primary cause of employee turnover will be the desire for a better work-life balance, and about a third of employers believe that concerns about return-to-the-office plans will influence attrition.
In a similar vein, the Leadership IQ study, Employee Burnout In 2021, discovered that 71% of leaders expect that high performers are going to quit because of employee burnout.
Whether you believe that your employees are going to quit (or are quitting) because of work-life balance, burnout, returning to the office, or myriad other issues, there's no denying the severity of the problem.
But is every organization destined to be a loser in this economy? While there are widespread and serious concerns about the state of our workplaces, there are some companies that are using this disruption as a competitive advantage to retain and attract talent. If you can make progress while your competitors lose ground, your gains could be doubly significant.
For example, in the Leadership IQ burnout study, we asked companies whether their employees' current resilience was better or worse than before the pandemic. While the study showed that 43% said their people are less resilient now than they were before the pandemic, 34% noted that their employees are actually more resilient. If you're one of those companies whose employees have come through the pandemic stronger and more resilient, you've almost certainly got a leg up on your competition.
Perhaps your organization is implementing a hybrid working model, with a mix of remote and in-person employees, to offer greater flexibility and work-life balance. It's not easy, and more than a few companies are doing it poorly. In the study, The Leadership Skills Gap, we learned that only 28% of leaders have advanced or expert skills for managing hybrid teams. But if you're one of the organizations with leaders who are highly adept at leading hybrid teams, well, now you've another major competitive advantage.
Something that often gets missed in the hand-wringing about record-setting resignations is that it doesn't take a monumental shift to become a more attractive workplace than your competitors. A modicum of effort to reduce employee burnout, or offer better work-life balance, or more flexibility with your remote and hybrid working options, could be all it takes to trounce your competitors' recruiting efforts. As I noted earlier, if you can make progress while your competitors lose ground, your gains could be doubly significant.
When I spoke with Daniel Chait, CEO and Co-founder of Greenhouse, he noted that, "The turnover from the company down the street is my candidate. And if you have a compelling workplace, you're good at identifying talent, and you can provide reasons for people to come work for you, it's a more liquid market, and it's to your benefit. Being in that position can be very powerful. But if you're simply relying on inertia to retain people, that's a dangerous place for organizations."
