Insights

Articles, case studies, news, and commentary about all things Human Resources.

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How Should We Respond To The
“Great Resignation”?

Like many of you, I have recently read a number of articles about the mass-exodus of workers from the US labor market (i.e., the “Great Resignation”) since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and have been reflecting upon its consequences, causes, and how we as business leaders should respond. Various authors and analysts view the scope and threat of the “Great Resignation” differently, but here are the statistics*:

• A record 42.1 million Americans quit a job in 2019.
• Every month from April to August 2021, at least 2.5% of the  American workforce quit their jobs.
• In August alone, more than 4.3 million people handed in their two weeks’ notice, according to federal statistics.
• So far, 2021 quit levels are about 10% to 15% higher than they were in record-setting 2019.

This trend is a clearly a significant and steep one. In our daily lives, we are seeing the firsthand consequences of staffing shortages that hamstring many businesses’ operations and the slowing down supply chains.

The driving factors beyond this phenomenon are numerous and varied (and in some cases debatable [e.g., the impact of federal supplemental unemployment insurance]) but the most common and credible reasons given for the “Great Resignation” appear to be:

• Low wages and stagnant wage growth outpacing increased cost of goods/living.
• Increasing childcare costs (that simply making work not affordable for some parents).
• Declining working conditions, exacerbated by COVID-19 (i.e., healthcare, service, and retail industry jobs particularly, but also any employees who have been saddled with additional work responsibilities and hours due to increased pandemic-related staffing shortages).
• Jobs lacking opportunities for career growth.
• Jobs lacking in providing personal fulfillment, meaning, or purpose.
• Long term pandemic fatigue.
• Garden variety job burnout.

On the surface, this challenge seems new, overwhelming, and with no end in sight - but is this actually the case? A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic hanging in the air that is creating societal-wide uncertainty is a novel dynamic, but all these other casual factors are workplace problems we have faced before in one form or another. As always, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, but several areas (beyond wage increases and other financial incentives) which businesses can focus on improvement are:

• Creating more manageable (and rebalancing) workloads and performance goals.
• Implementing flexible work schedules (and/or updating and the policies, procedures, and expectations around them).
• Giving employees true autonomy and control over their work duties (to the extent possible).
• Meaningful rewarding and acknowledging of good work and extra contributions during these last several, very challenging years.
• Fostering a genuine, supportive workplace community and positive work culture (that is calibrated for hybrid and/or fully remote environments).
• Helping workers find mission, meaning, and value in their work.
• Asking employees directly what their organizations can do to make their work experience better (in the context their new work/life balance struggles but within the business’ limitations).

Most importantly, we business leaders need not only to think differently, but to act more boldly than we might have in the past. We should avoid always seeing fatigue and burnout as the worker’s problem and go beyond offering things like yoga and mindfulness training to help them “fix their own issues”. An extra week off for a Zoom or burnout break (as a few tech companies have recently offered) is a nice gesture but not a real commitment to change. And, as always, the true keys to success in applying the right remedies is in their specificity, correct application, and compatibility with your organization’s and workforce’s particular dynamics.

* U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data

It can be a daunting challenge to develop effective, sustainable practices to enhance hiring and retention. Let us know how we can help. Contact us today. 

What Is Workforce Planning
& Why Is It Essential?

As Human Resources professionals, we all know how easy it is to get mired in our day-to-day work challenges and duties. Most days there are multiple fires to put out, too many calls and “priority” emails to respond to, and other various, competing demands. During these times, I often pause and reflect on what one of my best managers taught me - organizations that do not make time to look forward and plan for future may not have future.

In our ever-changing economic climate, workforce planning is not only advisable but essential. Yet, when we conduct Human Resources audits for our clients, we discover than many do not have a strategic workforce plan in place.

What is workforce planning?

Workforce planning is simply the process by which an organization assesses its current and future workforce needs based on its business goals and objectives. It involves a system-wide review and analysis of its human capital and the development of an action plan that an organization will need to meet its targets. At a top level, this includes identifying both the quantity and the quality of the employees needed (in terms of their knowledge, skills, abilities, and cultural fit) but contains many other elements.

What is the purpose of workforce planning?

For most companies, their workforce is their single largest expense (accounting for 70% of operating expenses according to a recent EY study). It only makes sense to analyze and optimize spending, usage, and maintaining these “resources” like any other materials or operating costs. There are other indirect benefits to implementing a solid workforce plan as well.

What are the basic elements of workforce plans?

Although there are several approaches to strategic workforce planning, and the strategies and metrics included in workforce plans will vary (based on an organization’s structure, size, industry, and goals), all effective workforce plans should:

• Align workforce requirements directly to the organization’s strategic and annual business plans.

• Develop a comprehensive picture of where gaps exist between competencies the workforce currently possesses and future competency requirements.

• Identify and implement gap reduction strategies.

• Make decisions about how best to structure the organization and deploy the workforce.

• Detect and overcome internal and external barriers to accomplishing strategic workforce goals.

Where do I start?

To have an effective workforce strategic plan, you need to have a formal, well-articulated business strategy. If you do not know where your organization is going, how can you identify the people with the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) you will need to get you there?

The next step is a conducting a comprehensive, rigorous workforce assessment. An impactful workforce planning assessment is not limited figuring out if you need to hire new employees or determining appropriate staffing levels.

Understanding your current employees’ individual aptitudes and talents is key to developing effective strategies to get the best performance out of them and to help align them for individual and shared success.

What are the next steps?

Once the assessment is complete, you will need to develop an action plan. This step involves the designing strategies to close gaps, plans to implement the strategies, and choosing measures for assessing strategic progress. These strategies could include such things as recruiting, training/retraining, restructuring departments, contracting out roles, succession planning, technological enhancements/automation, and other activities.

Then you will implement your action plan by making sure that human and fiscal resources are in place, assigning and explaining the roles to key participants in the plan’s programs, and ensuring the necessary internal communication, marketing, and coordination is occurring to execute the plan.

Finally, you will need to monitor, evaluate, and revise your plan. This phase involves monitoring progress against milestones, adjusting the plan to make course corrections, and addressing newly occurring workforce issues on a regular cadence (annually or semi-annually is common).

How Non-Profits Can Attract & Retain Better Candidates

At various points of my professional life, I have been responsible for hiring direct care and administrative/support staff for social services agencies, hospitals, and other healthcare providers. Early on in those initiatives, the topic of salary is discussed and typically the Human Resources or hiring manager sheepishly confesses that the position’s base pay rate is too low (relative to other for profit employers, or sometimes to other direct peer organizations). They often deemed this as the singular reason the organization is struggling to attract, recruit, and retain staff members.

Of course, competitive salaries are important to potential employees, and employers that fail to pay near or at market rates are in danger of remaining viable. However, to completely ascribe hiring and retention success or failure on this one factor is shortsighted. Organizations need to consider to the broader picture of a given position’s work experience, opportunities, and non-monetary rewards they can (or should) offer, including:

1. A strong sense of mission and purpose:

Individuals who choose careers in nonprofit fields will tell you their number one reason for working in this area is that they want to help people. Organizations that best articulate, integrate, and practice their values / mission, and strive towards a focused vision are the most appealing employers. These efforts must start at the leadership level and cascade down through to the front line workers. Also, on a job level, each position should be designed in a way so employees can practice their vocation in the way where they feel empowered and effective in serving others.

2. A positive work environment and experience:

Not-for-profit organizations that can provide the most supportive and flexible work environments have a clear advantage in hiring and retaining employees. Policies and procedures that engender positive leadership to manager to staff and peer to peer relationships are key. In many not-for profit career fields, there are unique stresses and emotional hardships. Here, work life balance is paramount. Consider ways to provide more flexible schedules, better distributed work / case- loads, and other tactics that support a more positive work / life balance. Remember, care workers need to be cared for too!

3. Advancement and professional growth opportunities:

Year after year, high performing employees rank opportunity for advancement and professional growth among their top three reasons for selecting and staying with an employer. Of course, promotions are meaningful. However, individuals in these particular fields desire to expand their professional knowledge and skills, not just to increase their influence and scope of responsibility.

Organizations should be proactive in identifying high-potential individuals and developing a training program to prepare them for success in advanced and/or management roles. The selection criteria should not solely be length of service – past performance, core competencies, and aptitude are much more significant predictors of success. Once a workforce development and training program is in place, it is essential to share the details of the program with applicants during the hiring process.

It can be a daunting challenge to develop effective, sustainable practices to enhance non-cash compensation and other hiring and retention incentives. Let us know how we can help. Contact us today. 

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