The last two years have seen workplace trends that have lasted longer than what most people had anticipated. A lot of factors led to a change in perceptions and behaviors at work — generational diversity, remote working, talent versus opportunities imbalance and a lot more. However, one of the most prominent trends that’s stayed and taken different forms is the “Great Resignation”, or in simpler words, attrition.
Companies have struggled and continue to do so with retaining employees. The pandemic changed the way we work and now that we’re stepping out of the pandemic, a lot of companies have failed to realize that things aren’t going to go back to what they were before. Not only the way we work changed but the way people associate themselves to work changed. The pandemic led to a wave of layoffs and salary cuts which employers are now looking to deeply compensate in the new world of work. However, this has changed the game in two very significant ways — one, there are more opportunities out there for employees which makes them dominate the market and compensations are higher than ever before which makes retention tougher, two, employees no longer only care about compensation, they want a company to invest in their growth while building a culture that facilitates this.
Attrition is a result of an imbalance between what employees want and what employers think they need.
It is true that the pandemic led companies to be more empathetic towards their employees, like never before. Most organizations have in fact taken major steps towards accelerating growth journeys of employees and investing in their development. However, according to recent research, the top reason for employees leaving a company continues to be professional development.
💡Read more about how learning and development can enhance productivity at work and in turn impact a company’s bottom line.
Learning and growth is directly linked to lower attrition
There are enough and more statistics out there that show learning and growth opportunities as the number one motivator for employees. LinkedIn’s recent research reflected this and a quick poll Fundamento conducted online substantiated the claim that learning opportunities drive people to work better.
A Gallup study conducted on behalf of Amazon showed that 71% of people felt that their job satisfaction was higher with training and development. It has also come out to be the top reason for why people don’t want to switch jobs and skills training has emerged as one of the main perks younger workers look for in a new job.
Upskilling is a two-way street in which employers need to participate
There’s been a huge uptake in people enrolling for courses, going above and beyond to educate themselves on newer subjects and consistently upskill themselves to stay relevant in the job market. However, not everyone is okay with doing this in silos. People want employers to be actively involved in this process of upskilling.
In fact, being involved in an employee’s training and development process also allows companies to tap red flags sooner than later. A detailed write-up by Reworked highlighted how if people in a team are more interested in topics like conflict resolution, it could be a sign that there’s discontentment within the team. Therefore, it is crucial that companies not only create a learning environment for their employees, but also actively invest in it and give them the push they need to upskill in areas that might otherwise become reasons for them leaving the company.
The fact of the matter is that attrition as a problem is not new, but if there’s a way to beat it today, companies have to make their employees feel nurtured. The future of work demands learning and growth to become a vital part of a company’s ecosystem in order to develop teams that outperform targets and achieve high performance.
For more on how you can do this efficiently, on the back of data, check out Fundamento.
