ICOG - 01-Nov-2021

According to data from the Achievers Workforce Institute of 2000 employed adults surveyed in Feb 2021, 52% are looking to switch to a new organization, up from 35% from a year ago, while 46% feel disconnected from their company and 42% believe company culture has taken a hit during the pandemic.

Just like the pandemic shifted everything else, it also messed up how employers maintain company culture and how employees advance in their careers and engage at work.

Fast-forward to today, we are amid a Turnover Tsunami- as dubbed by finance professionals. And the wave will go well into 2022.

What are the factors behind voluntary resignations and departures in organizations?

The Physical Disconnection

Employers worldwide tried to keep business afloat, manage operations, serve customers, maintain cybersecurity and much more.

In the chaos, they forgot to take care of their employees. The physical disconnect between the workplace and people led to a series of issues. As employees got burned out by Zoom fatigue, it became more challenging to create a connection that once existed in physical form in offices and workspaces.

Pandemic Burnout

Pandemic stress and uncertainty with long working hours, distrusting managers and imbalance in work and life all led to employees feeling undervalued and burned out.

It was Long Due

Employees who were thinking of switching jobs to get into the gig economy pre-pandemic have already lost a couple of years to the pandemic and don’t want to lag behind anymore. Those who weren’t originally thinking of quitting have newer insights into remote work and how it can help them maintain a healthier work-life balance.

For those employees, this was long coming.

They are Energized

Most of us have gained new insights into ourselves and are energized as the world has opened up after a significant shutdown. Employees are more prone to taking risks and making space for newer experiences in their careers.

Indicators of Turnover

As a manager or a business leader, you need to act and act now. The passive form of retaining employees will not work amid this Turnover Tsunami. Experts suggest that organizations take proactive measures to identify employees on the verge of resigning and fight to keep them.

Here’s how to identify potential employee turnover-

• Disengagement - When employees plan to check out, they withdraw, barely participate, and take on an apathetic attitude. When that happens, supervisors should take on a candid approach and speak to employees 1:1 to understand their issues. If it’s a work-related problem, a solution should be suggested and put in place as soon as possible.

• Low Productivity - When productivity or quality of work begins to decline, it suggests that an employee is no longer invested in the company. When employees frequently miss deadlines, make errors and appear unmotivated, it’s time to evaluate the situation and trace it back to supervision, communication and acknowledgment- as those are more often the areas of improvement.

• Burnout and Boredom - It’s no news that the pandemic has pushed employees to the edge of burnout with its stressors. However, when employees feel fatigued and unchallenged, it’s a clear sign that they will be looking for a new opportunity if they aren’t already. Leaders can reassign responsibilities or enable employees to upskill and offer value in areas that interest and challenge them.

What Should You Do?

Developing a culture of continuous, proactive learning- could be one way to encourage your employees to contribute significantly to the organization and for you to stem the Turnover Tsunami.

Why?

An organization that is always challenging and upskilling its employees will grow.

And employees who are constantly advancing on their career path will always be engaged and motivated to learn more and contribute more.

This is precisely the reason why ICOG can help organizations create a culture of learning. And thereby engage employees.

Here are 3 ways ICOG makes a difference.

Employee Engagement - Organizations like L&T, CRISIL, Lafarge Holcim and more have trusted ICOG to boost employee engagement through continuous, individual-led learning. With a hyper-personalized learning environment, ICOG delivers learning after studying learner behaviors, preferences and interests.

See how ICOG solved the learner engagement problem once and for all.

Transparency - Transparency is one of the words thrown about a lot without being assigned appropriate action steps. ICOG helps introduce transparency in your organization through its deep data science analytics into organizational competencies and individual competencies. 

Read more about how ICOG makes your organization more equitable and inclusive.

Career Pathing - ICOG sets up each employee for success by building a career path that includes their aspirations and organizational requirements. A career path and a clear line of action to achieve every goal set on it can fire up employees to learn and advance in their careers.

According to Willis Towers Watson, most North American employers expect their current struggles to hire and retain talent to continue well into 2022.

What are you doing to retain your talent?