06 Aug Why pay rises and unlimited paid leave will NOT attract and retain talent post-pandemic
Throughout the pandemic, employees have been overworked, consistently sleep-deprived and hyper-stressed – with data by Capterra revealing that 71% of employees have experienced burnout. Now, data by Future Strategy Club revealing that this burnout has lead to 57% of the nation not wanting to return to their previous 9-5 role as offices begin to reopen.
This has left employers – such as Goldman Sachs and Bumble – to implement employee retention strategies in an attempt to attract and retain top talent. Yet as Future Strategy Club believe, the short-term benefits of pay rises and unlimited paid leave may work temporarily, but the key to retaining talent post-pandemic is prioritising employees needs, such as a home-work life balance.
In this changing corporate culture, Future Strategy Club’s data reveals what employees now want is to be understood within the workplace. This approach involves all employees asking questions and being comfortable with the answers. It also involves employees creating an environment of mutual exchange, where the internal strategy puts employees needs first and foremost.
If firms want to lure and retain talent, they must manage this upcoming transition period successfully. Future Strategy Club believes that this means employees must collaborate rather than pontificate, creating a horizontal structure with an employee-centred approach. This will not only foster high-quality results, natural team collaboration and productivity but ensure employees feel they have a true purpose within their place of work.
Justin Small, CEO of Future Strategy Club, discusses:
“Though bosses are keen on a full return to the office, 57% of the UK workforce are in disagreement. If top talent decides to leave their place of employment when lockdown restrictions lift, firms will face a talent crisis and run the risk of losing their competitive edge because of it. Now, it is now essential that the UK workforce becomes more enticing for its employees.
This means that creating a culture based on shared understanding and mutual respect. To collaborate rather than pontificate means that communication within the workplace must be thoughtful, meaningful, transparent. This is how leaders can engage employees during the current return-to-work period and create a positive working environment. Further to this, to create high-quality results and natural team collaboration, employers should assign employees work that has clear meaning and purpose. This creates a passionate, innovative and thriving workplace.
Unlike the traditional agency model which assembles generic teams for client projects, talent at FSC only work on projects they truly want to. The outcome of having a horizontal structure, means the mutual exchange of how to run a successful project yields infinitely more productive results.”
