How To Retain The Talent We Need In Today’s Workplaces

Focus on three key drivers

Let’s face it: even the best coffee in the world, a fridge full of fancy sparkling water, and a floor filled with foosball tables fail to fulfill employees if they’re fundamentally unhappy. After 30 years of working in the staffing industry, and as a leadership coach, I’ve found that we can focus on three key drivers to help retain the talent we need in today’s new workplaces.

Remote work may be here to stay, but employees are beginning to have a say. Many have grown weary of working from home. In late March, the Egress Remote Working; One Year On report revealed that 73% of employees surveyed feel worse overall from remote working. It’s impacting younger workers more significantly, too, as 66% of millennial and Gen Z workers reported feeling tired, stressed or under more pressure.

This could mean a shift back toward traditional office settings, where the spirit of having a “family” is more important than ever. Family members trust each other, so creating a culture of trust is key. Some of the ways to build trust, collaboration and positivity are:
 

If your employees have best friends at work, they’re more likely to continue creating a positive, collaborative circle. A recent Gallup poll found that women who have a best friend at work are 63% more likely to stay engaged than those who say otherwise.

Have you written down and shared your company core values with all your team members? Leaning on core values for guidance fosters a more consistent, happier workplace. It’s part of creating an “employer of choice” mindset engaging employees to pour more of their energy into the business while also referring and bringing in other A-players, too. My own experience and research show that a four-step process can keep the core values in check while also keeping employees happy and keeping a company growing in the right direction:

Identify what’s not working, set a new intention; plan and take action; get help, iterate, pivot as necessary and repeat.

For example, if I’m an Employer of Choice in the fitness industry and my trainers start failing to keep their appointments, I’d identify this problem as what’s not working. Next, I would share our core values of integrity with the trainers and set the new intention of keeping appointments as the number one priority. We might create a new scheduling system, reaching out to tech-savvy employees, and then tinker with the approach as necessary. If I were to discover a deeper issue conflicting with our core values, such as filth on the gym floor, I’d pivot to use a different cleaning company. This process would continue until my fitness company was 100% considered an employer of choice.

How can your organization create psychological safety? Consider changing the behaviors and norms within your corporate culture. Here are four things psychologically safe organizations practice.

Approach conflict as a collaborator, not an adversary. True success at work comes from a win-win result. When we experience a perceived loss, this loss triggers attempts to reestablish fairness through competition, criticism, or disengagement. Start with the mindset of achieving a mutually desired outcome, which will quell our instinctual “fight or flight” reaction.

Speak human to human — a “just like me” mindset. We all have universal needs such as respect, competence, social status, and autonomy. When you are having an intense negotiation, for example, the other party is just like you and aims to walk away happy. This person has beliefs, perspectives, and opinions, just like you. This person has hopes, anxieties, and vulnerabilities, just like you, and this person wants to feel respected, appreciated, and competent, just like me.

Anticipate reactions and plan countermoves. Before you engage with a coworker, proactively think of how the other person will react to you. Lean into uncomfortable conversations head on by preparing for likely reactions. Think about your main points. What are three ways the recipient of my message is possibly going to react? How will I handle each of those scenarios?

Engage them in an exploration. For example, “I imagine there are multiple factors at play. Perhaps we could uncover what they are together?” Ask for solutions. The people who are responsible for creating a problem often hold the keys to solving it. Ask directly, “What do you think needs to happen here?” Or, “What would be your ideal scenario?” Another question leading to solutions is, “How could I support you?”

If you create this sense of psychological safety within your organization, you can expect to not only retain talent, but also see higher levels of engagement, increased motivation to tackle difficult problems, more learning and development opportunities, and better performance.

Add this sense of safety to a positive, collaborative circle; and a culture based on core values, and you have the workplace happiness that will ensure long-term success.