While salary, designation, and benefits are a few things an employee looks for at the time of joining, job satisfaction and cultural fitment play a critical role in ensuring people stay

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Employee engagement and retention have never been more challenging than what it is today. Today’s workforce, an interesting mix of 4 generations is assertive, impatient and is constantly looking for purpose, value and not just money. Employees are the backbone of any organization and possibly the only competitive advantage. In this changing, competitive environment, what should an organization do to not let their employees leave them?

Rewards, & recognition, appreciation, and clear feedback are critical to employees being engaged with an organization but are now considered as hygiene. While salary, designation, and benefits are a few things an employee looks for at the time of joining, job satisfaction and cultural fitment play a critical role in ensuring people stay. Following are a few strategies based on which organizations can evolve as employers of choice for today’s dynamic workforce:

Purpose: Today’s working generation is purpose driven and they need to feel connected with the purpose of the organization, and how they are contributing towards it. Organizations that are working towards providing a better world through infrastructure, better health opportunities and products, or environment-friendly products are connecting with the talent pool on the basis of their larger purpose.

Values: Clearly defined values and integration into processes gives employees certainty, a sense of direction and guidance that becomes an over-arching way of doing things. They take pride in the value system and become ambassadors of such organizations.

Clear expectations: Clear expectations for short term and long term in sync with the purpose gives employees a goal to chase, brings them in touch with their contribution and the impact on the big picture.

Safe work environment: Allowing employees to try, fail and learn, allowing them space to do things on their own makes them take ownership. It makes them feel empowered, a part of the decision making and they take the accountability and responsibility of delivering. Another aspect of safety is mental, emotional and physical safety. An organization that creates a work environment where all employees irrespective of generation, gender, region, language, social strata, sexual orientation, etc feel included will be clearly an employer of choice.

Employee wellbeing: The fast-paced life, changing family structures, migratory working population, work pressures are all leading to lifestyle diseases and concerns around mental and emotional wellbeing. Taking cognizance of these and providing for mitigating solutions goes a long way in building a healthy and loyal workforce. In this regard, comprehensive medical insurance, counseling support, offering flexible timing, work from home, etc have proven beneficial.

Growth and learning opportunities & challenges: A purpose driven workforce is also hungry for growth, not just monetarily or in terms of designation, but also in terms of exposure, learning new skills, working in new geographies, new product lines, etc. Organizations should be ready to provide for both conventional and non-conventional career paths. Give them work that is challenging enough where they can learn new things and achieve new milestones. The objective should be to tap into an employee’s passion and allow them to focus their time and energy on projects they can enjoy. 

Re-skilling: As the corporate landscape is changing rapidly with technology and automation taking over processes, with new age companies and business models in play, there is a section of the workforce that needs to be re-skilled fast. Preparing the workforce for change with empathy, addressing their insecurity, timely feedback, and communication, training them of the new way of doing things proactively will help retain long term loyal talent. 

Remember, the employees are constantly evaluating employers and organizations as well today. The evaluation is no longer one-sided. When it comes to retaining talent, it all boils down to the connection they feel with the organization- the purpose, values and the goals, how they are in sync with their personal aspirations and goals. You get this equation right, and employees will stay.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house