The great resignation, quiet quitting, the great attrition
It seems like there’s a new term to describe the current labour market every week! The reality is that everyone seems to be feeling the pinch if they are recruiting right now. With the flow of immigration still reduced and the labour pool reassessing priorities and purpose post-pandemic; employers are struggling to retain talent. In New Zealand, resignations are up 10% compared to 2021 numbers.
Kinsey’s recent report* highlights a lack of career advancement and development as the number one reason people are leaving their jobs at the moment. Other reasons include poor leadership and lack of fair remuneration.
The top 5 things you can do to improve staff retention
1. Look beyond traditional career advancement strategies
Cadetships and traineeships give employees from different areas of the business a taste of the wider operations and corporate functions. They can open up possibilities. They also help employers tap into unrealised talent and opportunities within your existing team.
If you aren’t able to put together a whole cadetship, consider offering it as part of an extended induction. This has a dual purpose, building relationships across the business while bringing new staff into the fold.
Raise awareness of different business units and how they fit together to work smoothly. Think about taking your production operators through the warehouse and dispatch. Talking to the quality team, and walking through corporate office functions, maintenance and engineering. This not only enhances the employee experience, building engagement, but it also opens their eyes to possibilities for their future career development within your organisation.
2. Invest in the learning experiences for your staff
The good news is New Zealand employers currently have access to different types of funds to support their organisations. These provide targeted learning and growth to their staff.
The Tertiary Education Commission’s Workplace Literacy and Numeracy Fund
This helps organisations lift the foundation skills of their operational workforce. Think digital literacy, being able to engage with paperwork, connect with colleagues and offer up ideas, reading instructions, emails and more.
Te Puni Kōkiri’s Leadership Cadet Programme
This aims to grow Māori leaders through your business through a Te Ao Māori framework.
MBIE’s Project Ikuna
There are now eight Future Ready courses delivered through Tātaki Auckland Unlimited’s Project Ikuna throughout the Greater Auckland region, to help employers upskill their Pacific workforces.
Upskills is across these funds. We can help you get a sense of where your team is at and most importantly, what they might need in terms of learning.
3. Create flexibility within roles to retain existing staff
Flexibility has a great impact on staff retention, according to the Kinsey report. Of course, flexibility can be difficult to create in an operations environment. Clearly, it’s not easy to work from home if you’re required to work on a building site or manufacture food products. However, flexibility doesn’t just mean working from home. Think about hours, tapping into the part-time labour market, or offering school holiday flexibility for those with families. It’s time to get creative about how we provide flexibility for frontline roles.
4. Look after the well-being of your staff
The pandemic has created exhaustion, stress and burnout for many. Consider as an employer how you can support well-being at work. Fortunately, there are lots of great initiatives and campaigns in this area. Look into creating a well-being wall, celebrating and acknowledging mental health awareness or well-being leave and volunteer days.
5. Create purpose and connection at work
A sense of belonging at work can be fostered through shared values. If employees understand and buy into those values and the purpose of your organisation they will feel more engaged. Some of the ideas above also create connections and build relationships across the organisation. It’s worth thinking about the win-win here.
If you would like to discuss any of these and other ways you might look at improving staff retention, contact us.
*https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-great-attrition-is-making-hiring-harder-are-you-searching-the-right-talent-pools
