The Great Employment Experience Can Overcome the Great Resignation

As the modern project-based workforce’s attributes have continued to evolve, employers who have not evolved with them are finding it quite challenging to compete for talent and grow their businesses ─ as if it wasn’t difficult enough already. Some employers are fatigued from the volume of changes they need to make to remain competitive; however, those who are making the most out of their opportunities to affect change will reap the greatest benefits long-term. Let’s look at some of these modern workforce drivers and some key takeaways:

• A Tonerbuzz report indicates that 67% of employees say their work-life balance improved once they began working remotely, while 56% of employee burnout is likely caused by negative work culture
• Employees are more frequently being selective on job opportunities, looking for employers who they align with personally and professionally, as well employers whose actions match their words
• Linezero informs us that 79% of people who quit their jobs cite lack of appreciation as their reason for leaving
• According to a report from Randstad, 48% of employees feel their managers do not seem open to them switching roles within the organization (ouch), and 43.2% of employees say they don’t have enough opportunities to consider for advancement

With this data in mind, key themes such as Brand, Culture, Engagement, Recognition, and Development & Mobility need to be the focal point for employers looking to modernize their business processes, retain talent, and power projects. These themes greatly impact how employers need approach the full candidate/employee life cycle, thus providing an opportunity to create a great experience for candidates/employees and replace the Great Resignation.

Brand

A company’s brand is its differentiator. It is far more than words on a website and mission-vision-values statements. It is the sum of its actions, processes, communications, values on relationships, and much more. In fact, you can say the brand is heavily dependent on the culture which we will discuss in a moment. A company’s brand will be communicated organically and proactively in many ways via employees, customers, and even job seekers who have had the opportunity to interact with employees.

For example, by leveraging the Talent Relationship Management tool included in the Acquisition module of Deltek Talent Management, employers have the opportunity to broadcast their brand to applicants to continue to strengthen their interest in the employment with the organization. By proactively communicating news and information about the organization, employers can start to build a relationship with future employees that lasts throughout their tenure with the organization. These relationships that build the foundation for an employee-focused culture, which organically gets communicated via personal relationships resulting in increased interest of additional applicants.

Culture

Communication, connectedness, relationships, empathy ─ these are cultural cornerstones. According to research from SoftActivity, ineffective company communication causes workplace anxiety for 80% of U.S. employees. When people experience a lack of information, they create their own. This leads to inaccurate views of their standing in relationships, success on the job, success of the company, lost focus on goals and mission, etc.

Features of Deltek Talent Management such as the News & Announcements and Continuous Feedback features, facilitate great communication throughout the organization while also placing emphasis on relationship development. News & Announcements are the first thing employees see when they log in, which makes it easy to communicate important company information about things like open enrollment or upcoming events. And with Continuous Feedback, mangers can show their teams that they are invested in their future with a central location to monitor and manage their career path and development goals, as well as the competencies and skills they need to progress within your organization.   

Engagement

Engagement has to be a foundational element considered when designing processes and programs that impact employees. It needs to be a focus of the organization top down, and employers need to understand that all touchpoints with employees, or lack thereof, can have a significant impact on the overall engagement and retention efforts of a company. You have likely heard of theories regarding emotional bank accounts consisting of debits and credits. In today’s workplace, this is extremely important to understand and incorporate. While I am not at all suggesting that employers need to walk on eggshells and totally cater to attitudes of entitlement, it is important for employers to understand that for a workforce that is big on relationships, understanding basics of how trust is built or eroded is of significant importance.

The built-in Survey Tool within Deltek Talent Management provides one such touch point that makes it easier to keep a finger on the pulse of the modern workforce and support continuous engagement. With the Survey Tool, employers can gauge whether their strategic initiatives are making an impact and take corrective action when needed.

Recognition

Do you remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs from our school days? I bet you thought you’d never need this information again. Some of most interesting and impactful information out there has to do with how our hierarchy of needs can be met with modernized performance management. When you think about how love/belonging and esteem are incredibly important human needs, it should be easy to realize that recognition in the workplace is not only a modern approach to managing performance but is a key item in meeting key human needs.

Recognition also has an impact on the chemicals in the brain. Recognition releases dopamine in the brain, and that dopamine release also reinforces that more behavior like this can result in more dopamine being released, which increases feelings of pride and pleasure.

As part of the Performance and Development module, the Employee Recognition Board promotes recognition and awareness company-wide, no matter how distributed your modern workforce may be. Advertising accomplishments in such a way fosters positive engagement between colleagues and supports the employee-centric culture that is the foundation of an enjoyable employment experience.   

Development & Mobility

Development isn’t always about upward mobility, in fact, most time it isn’t. We already underscored the desires of the modern workforce in terms of mobility. Employees are looking for variety, autonomy, the ability to learn, master, apply, and continue forward to the next challenge. This means that there is a need for employers to implement learning to fuel development, design career paths for growth, encourage/allow for departmental transfers, and champion mobility to inspire retention.

As part of the Deltek Talent Management full suite, the Learning and Performance and Development modules work together to provide an easier way for employees to achieve their career goals. Once career paths and development goals have been established through open collaboration between managers and employees, the courses and learning paths required to help achieve growth can be scheduled and assigned.

When it comes to supporting the modern project-based workforce, Deltek Talent Management is focused on the key themes and challenges that employers are facing. With this robust software solution, employers can create an incredible full life cycle employee experience and foster an employee-centric culture that results from greater investment in development, recognition and improved engagement.

Register to watch how Deltek Talent Management supports transitioning from the Great Resignation to the great employment experience.