The great resignation has put employees in the driver’s seat when it comes to the battle for talent. Organizations are willing to offer unique benefits to attract new workers, but existing employees who remain with their employer want to know what they’re getting in return for
Forty-nine percent of executives surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management say their organizations have been experiencing much higher turnover than usual in the past six months alone, and 84% say job openings are going unfilled for longer periods than before the COVID-19 pandemic. While 41% of workers are searching or planning to search for a new job in the next few months, 52% have chosen to stay in their current roles — and have had to take on additional responsibilities as a result of their colleagues’ exits.
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“Employees who are staying with their current employer may be doing so because they respected how their employer and manager supported them during the pandemic,” says SHRM knowledge adviser John Dooney. “As their colleagues depart for other opportunities, employees left behind may find themselves getting increased job responsibilities and tasks to expand their career.”
Employers are increasingly focused on attracting new talent, but SHRM research suggests there’s more they can do to keep (and reward) existing employees. Fifty-eight percent of the organizations surveyed by SHRM say that beyond
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Forty-two percent of HR professionals who said their organization has seen higher turnover in the past six months also said their organization has added new remote work options to reduce turnover; 32% have increased employee referral bonuses; and 28% have introduced new or additional merit increases. Flexibility, Dooney says, is the perk employees are craving the most.
“Generally after each recession employers often see a bump in turnover because employees who had wanted to leave couldn’t because there were no job opportunities,” he says. “An unintended side effect from the pandemic is the future of work moved five to seven years earlier. Employees will be more likely to [stay with a] firm that offers such workplace flexibility, in particular being able to work full-time in other states away from company headquarters.”