Today’s dense job market presents a unique problem for businesses and organizations when retaining and attracting top talent. Yet, some are overlooking the most obvious of solutions: diversity, equity, and inclusivity.
A recent Conference Board survey of 1,520 executives, including 740 CEOs found that talent retention remains the top internal priority for global organizations. Across the continents, and particularly in mature economies, the demand for highly talented employees has far surpassed the job markets’ ability to keep up. And business leaders are struggling to navigate it. Yet, the same set of CEOs surveyed also ranked cultural diversity in the workplace, equal pay, and inclusivity at the bottom of their list.
As the cost of talent attrition rises, which a Society for Human Resource Management study notes to be at least 20% of the lost employee’s salary – leaders and board members must reprioritize if they want to retain their talented employees. Here’s how:
Foster workforce inclusivity and diversity
Workforce inclusivity has taken a giant leap in the past few years – with women, people of color and of diverse abilities filling positions across industries. However, in a previous post, April Gloria explored how women represent only 6.4% of the corporate board rooms of top companies. Companies must create concrete roadmaps in ‘Boosting Women in Leadership Roles’.
Diverse talents across sectors are being hired and found but, often, not retained. Even companies that employees rank as “best places to work at” like Google have a high attrition rate of black and brown employees. Organizations must examine their models to expand their diversity push not only in rank-and-file positions but also in leadership roles.
Provide unique benefits and equitable pay
Enhancing the employee experience also has to do mainly with remuneration packages. Employees often weigh their value to the organization based on pay and benefits. It has been shown in numerous studies that higher compensation and equitable pay leads to higher productivity and overall employee satisfaction – as with the case of Gravity Payment’s radical remuneration scheme.
Another key benefit you can afford your employees is flexibility. In fact, tech multi-billionaire Bill Gates recently said that offering flexible working schedules will be a determinant for attracting and retaining talented employees in the next few years. As more employees yearn for better work-life balance, benefits like flexible time and workspaces will be crucial in improving employee experience.
The need for flexible workspaces has led to the rise of the coworking industry, which provides locations across the globe where corporate remote workers can work in a professional environment similar to a traditional office space. Industrious highlights how these coworking spaces allow your team to focus on their jobs, as everything else is taken care of by the staff. Clean, inspiring areas, with unlimited coffee, can complement the flexibility afforded by remote or flexible work schedules. The key is giving your employees the best environment and financial health that will enable them to concentrate on increasing their output.
Train competent and compassionate leaders
Lastly, organizational development and talent retention must be hinged on training better leaders. The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated and Future Workplace analyzed employees across eight major economies. They found that nine in ten workers look at managers as a barometer in deciding if they want to stay in a company. While the research suggests that managers are generally competent and have great work ethics, most of them lack work-life balance and job coaching.
That said, future-proof leaders are key to talent attraction and retention. As industries develop further into the age of agility and constantly changing markets, workplace strategies for talent retention should also evolve.
Written for stratx-exl.com by Harmony Field
