Written by Rachel Russell, Global Head of Corporate Strategy, Allegis Group. This is an excerpt of our Global Workforce Trends Report, download the full report here.
Several employee relationship pitfalls can cause a worker to leave an organization. The worker may feel that their career priorities are not being addressed, so they seek opportunities that better reflect their needs (i.e., remote working, more exciting projects, or more desirable benefits). They may leave because they feel they’re at a career dead end with few new contacts or too little training. Or, they may grow out of touch due to a lack of communication and seek another opportunity where they feel more connected. Our experience at Allegis Group has taught us that each of these three types of issues can be mitigated if the employer invests the time and effort to improve the employee relationship.
First, develop relationships that treat employees as individuals. A highly competent employee, for example, may want autonomy and desire to avoid travel. That person may only be interested in receiving a merit increase and being left alone. In the same department, there may be another employee in a similar role who values travel and interaction with colleagues and will not feel successful unless she earns a new title every two years. These are two entirely different sets of priorities, but the organizations that learn about and address the unique needs of both individuals will have an advantage in retaining them.
Second, empower workers to develop the networks and skills to advance their careers. In our company, we will reimburse employees for work-related lunches and encourage employees to network at the organization’s expense. We’ve seen how an individual can build a network and use that network to move to a new career level or direction that she would otherwise achieve only by leaving for another employer. Along with networking, an investment in worker training has a tremendous influence on employee retention. The employer must make education a priority and accept the investment of time and budget that is needed to provide training to its workers. The returns, in terms of improved skill sets and employee engagement, make the investment well worth the effort.
Third, make an active effort to close communication gaps. To prevent those gaps when we place our talent within client organizations, we make communication with the candidates placed a part of the recruiter’s daily process. We support that capability with our automated customer engagement solution to reach out to our talent at predetermined touch points, based on data that tells us when a worker is likely to start looking for their next job. Likewise, we have a front-end “welcome journey” to walk the candidate through the onboarding process, with a feedback system that enables us to track their satisfaction with the job. In every case, communication is being made part of a systematic, repeatable process that is key to keeping our talent engaged and available to meet our clients’ needs.
Together, individual relationships, empowerment for career development, and consistent communication all play a role in keeping great talent connected and engaged with their work. Through stronger employee relationships and reduced attrition, organizations can position themselves to gain an advantage at a time when retaining critical talent is a main driver of business success.
Looking for more perspectives like these on how to recruit and retain top talent? Gain perspective on economic, demographic, and global trends influencing talent supplies around the world, download your free copy of our Global Workforce Trends Report.