Re-Engaging Your Workforce After the Great Resignation
Michele McGovern has been an active journalist for more than 25 years, covering topics and events from crime to leadership, from customer service to sales, from HR to employee experience. She is a passionate writer who has a balanced home life as a respectable wife, ingenious mother, amateur athlete, and fun-loving naturalist. Thus, she is well qualified to comment on getting employees back on the job after pandemic shifts in the workplace.
Her HRmorning article (2021)[1], Re-engage employees who don’t want to come back to work, suggests to employers how they might attract former workforce personnel back to work after quitting. The Great Resignation depleted companies of their employees who recalibrated life values and priorities to reach a newfound outlook of their human dignity.
McGovern was aware of Prudential’s[2] Pulse of the American Worker Survey, Special Report: Post-Pandemic Work & Life – Expectations from the American workforce. Workforce on the move amid evolving priorities.
Half of the workers say that the pandemic has made them reevaluate their career goals and given them more control in deciding the direction of their careers. … 48% are rethinking the type of job they want moving forward; 53% would retrain for a career in a different field or industry if they had the opportunity.
For employers “to re-engage and motivate employees,” says McGovern, “now will have a long-term effect. That’s why it’s critical for HR pros, executives, and front-line managers to try new strategies to engage employees. Here’s how to help:
Flexibility: Using the “carrot” of more money doesn’t address of core challenge, though it might be a good opener. Workers don’t want the pressure of timecards and reporting to office managers; they want flexible options that allow them to work from home as well as have an office space they can count on periodically. Prudential’s Special Report made this observation:
47% would not accept working full-time office hours, while 34% prefer to work remotely permanently. Workers feel challenged by the work/life imbalance they often experience. 48% must prioritize personal commitments while another 46% “trade-off” personal obligations with work demands. Flexibility alleviates these conflicts.
Training and reskills: Again, Prudential reported that employers were most responsible for worker development, mostly in technology and computer science. The report said that 54% of workers sought out training for their careers while only 38% spent little to no time training. How sad! This jeopardizes workers financial security as technology moves forward.
On Employee well-being, McGovern adds a quote from Marsha Akpodiete[3]:
Employee well-being is one of the cornerstones of a company’s culture. Taking additional steps to increase employee engagement now can influence the success of a business, foster employee loyalty, and encourage a healthier work environment.
McGovern closes her recommendations with a sound human reality.
People enjoy work for reasons beyond the work. They like relationships and collaboration with colleagues. Many build friendships with co-workers.
Take-away: Workers will come back but with a new mindset of quality of life and balanced relations.
Sources:
[1] Mc Govern, Michele, (2021); Re-engage employees who don’t want to come back to work; https://www.hrmorning.com/articles/re-engage-employees.
[2] Prudential Financial, Inc. (2021); PULSE OF THE AMERICAN WORKER SURVEY FACT SHEET – June 2021 – https://news.prudential.com/presskits/pulse-american-worker-survey-post-pandemic-work-life.htm
[3] Akpodiete, Marsha, (2019); HR Coach at Paychex, Miramar, Florida, USA
