5 Talent Management Trends For 2022 And Beyond

Today’s workers want more meaningful company resources as part of their overall compensation package

Workers are re-evaluating their employers. In August alone, a record 4.3 million Americans — nearly 3 percent of the workforce — quit their jobs, according to Labor Department data. That shocking statistic is up from the previous record set in April when 4 million people left their jobs, demonstrating the rapidly changing priorities of American workers.

 

As HR leaders, the data reinforces what you are seeing and experiencing on a daily basis: Today’s workers are prepared and are willing to wait in order to find employment that matches their needs and values. And it’s not just about compensation.
 
The average company sees low employee engagement with a majority of their benefits programs because they cater to general populations, not individuals, and are difficult to administer. Highly personalized benefits are key levers for retaining and attracting talent, yet are highly underutilized.
 
Today’s workers want more meaningful and useful company resources as part of their overall compensation package. It is more critical than ever for companies to attract and retain the best people by giving them the individualized support they need for their health and general well-being. Incentivizing people to stay on with perks and benefits that no longer appeal or apply to them is particularly challenging in today’s climate. Gym membership discounts, healthy snacks, Uber credits — things that people have liked as perks in the past are not as meaningful or useful in the hybrid work environment.
 
Companies should support their employees with meaningful, personalized benefits at scale so that HR managers have more tools at their disposal to design programs that retain and attract talent. Here are 5 ways this can be achieved:

Employees have grown accustomed to flexible working arrangements that eliminate wasteful commute time and enable them to design their day around personal and professional priorities. According to a July CNET survey, 80 percent of workers polled do not want to go back to the office full time. By transitioning to a remote or hybrid environment, you are providing the flexible environment that workers seek and expanding your talent pool. Flexible work success hinges on enabling remote talent to collaborate effectively with other team members and treating everyone equitably, regardless of whether they go into the office.

Caregivers have faced additional challenges during the pandemic as work and family demands overlapped. In addition to parents of young children, over 1 in 6 Americans working full or part-time assist with the care of a loved one, according to the Caregiver Family Alliance. How can your company continue to support employees taking care of young children, elderly, ill or disabled family members, friends and even pets through continued disruption?

Tailoring benefits for employees caring for loved ones, such as a childcare stipend for parents, mental health resources for increased anxiety, or a flexible, hybrid work schedule, can prove particularly beneficial for retaining caretakers in the workplace. Flexibility is again key. What works for one caretaker, might not work the same for another, which is why it’s so important to understand the distinct needs of your caretaker employees.

Long gone are the days when a company can check the box for well-being by offering a free or subsidized gym membership. Well-being is no longer just physical health. It also includes mental health and financial health. Your well-being programs should take a holistic approach and reflect options within all three pillars.

With the transition to hybrid work, well-being programs should be centered around an individual’s needs rather than an office location. Examples of program elements include a stipend for more comfortable home office equipment, stipends for physical fitness classes and memberships, mental health support services, and financial counselling. Investing in the overall well-being of your employees boosts retention, helps to reduce burnout, and results in a happier and healthy workforce.

A well-defined career path and support from managers on how employees can reach their goals helps workers envision a long-term relationship with their company. Clearly, defined goals and tangible steps on how to advance in one’s career also help to instill a sense of shared purpose and impact on the company’s future. Professional coaching and manager training can assist in preparing your frontline managers to have these kinds of conversations with their team members.

And for all employees, learning and development programs that are flexible and meet the specific needs of your employees during different stages of their growth are most beneficial. Programs should support specific skills development for early career, managerial skills for mid-career, and leadership training for executives.

After months of quarantine, everyone is itching to get back out into the world. Recognition programs that promote vacations and fun experiences outside of work help to strengthen team relationships, rejuvenate your people, and most importantly, bring joy to your workforce.

Often your team leaders will know best what would be most rewarding and enjoyable for their employees, so flexibility and creativity are vital. For example, the founder and CEO of Spanx, Sara Blakely, recently surprised every employee with two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world and $10,000 to spend on their trips during a party celebrating a major investment in the company. By doing so, she created an opportunity for shared meaning in the celebration among all her employees and reinforced the company’s values and culture.

The first step to evolving your benefits strategy from a generalized, one-size-fits-all approach, to one that puts your individual employees’ preferences at the core of your program is figuring out precisely what your employees need. Invite commentary, conduct an engagement survey, solicit feedback on your existing programs, and review that information against your demographic data. This will identify gaps and needs in your existing strategy. The next step is to determine your future investment level per employee.  
 
You’ll also need to identify the right solutions partner to scale your programs. With flexibility, a core tenet of tailored benefits programs, a simple execution for a smaller company could be an employee stipend for some or all of these benefits. For mid-size and larger companies, solutions like my own, Benepass, help companies scale, track and administer flexible benefits programs with ease.
 
By ensuring that each employee gets the benefit that’s most meaningful and rewarding to them is how they’ll feel valued and cared for by their employer. It’s precisely this type of empathy that improves retention and makes your company stand out to prospective employees.