With recent and drastic world changes motivating a major shift in what employees value and a rising competition for talent, there is an increasing focus on retention. In a recent survey that NFP conducted among benefits leaders, 93% believe that it's important to retain top talent. As The Great Resignation dissipates and we move into a new period - The Big Stay - fewer employees may be quitting their jobs, but a lack of engagement, quiet quitting and high employee turnover still pose pricy problems for organizations.
Unlocking the underlying reason for the difficulty in retaining talented employees is blossoming into a generational blame game, with emerging statistics offering dissenting opinions about why it is so hard for employers to attract and then keep top talent.
Low engagement and high turnover continue to weigh heavily on resources, productivity and, critically, the bottom line for organizations. It's estimated that low engagement costs the global economy $7.8 trillion a year. Employers who can find solutions to this problem and overcome high employee turnover and low engagement will save on costs and build a reputation as a top place to work. The key challenge lies in appealing to all employees.
Between transformed remote workplaces, new compensation strategies for a mobile and dispersed workforce, and a focus on crucial areas such as diversity, equity and inclusion and mental health, there are new trends everywhere. How can you know what trends are valuable to your multi-generational employees and what is the best way to engage employees of all ages and levels?
With a general shift in later retirement age and a steady flow of newer generations entering the workforce, we are entering an era of vast diversity in age across the workforce. Whatever your viewpoint may be on who or what is to blame for The Great Resignation, the reality is that discounting entire sections of the workforce is unlikely to provide an answer to the problem. A 60-year-old employee has vastly different values and ways of operating than a 22-year-old; it's up to people leaders to recognize and value their differences.
Some argue that younger generations are simply not equipped with the proper communication skills to enter the workforce. According to a recent ResumeBuilder survey of more than 1300 managers, 74% said that they find Gen Z more difficult to work with than other generations. Others argue that while younger generations may lack the work experience of Baby Boomers and Gen X, they previously were able to make up for that in enthusiasm, but the pandemic created a startling shift. The solutions and management styles of Gen X or Baby Boomer generations are now failing to engage Millennials and Gen Z - from 2019 to 2022, the number of people under 35 who reported being successfully engaged with their jobs dropped to the lowest level since 2011.
Instead of applying a one-size-fits-all solution across a fragmented number of different problems, a shift to hyper-personalization can help organizations prioritize and understand what matters most to their workforce. In our ever-increasing digital world, regardless of what generation an employee identifies with, personalization is not a request, but a standard. This personalization is expected in the traditional benefits - medical, dental, vision - but also in assistance and management styles beyond that; some employees want their employers' help managing their health, well-being and lifestyle needs year-round.
How your organization goes about meeting people where they are first means understanding what they expect. Low employee engagement, quiet quitting and high employee turnover continue to weigh heavily on organizations. Fortunately, there's no need to waste time pointing fingers. Employers that seek tools - like surveys, benefits administration technology, and total paycheck resources like the one available from Zywave - to help them better understand their workforce will be those who satisfy and engage employees, solve their retention problems and succeed in becoming talent destinations.
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