Marc Emmer is president of Optimize Inc. and an author, speaker and consultant specializing in strategy and strategic planning.
According to Gallup, there has been a measurable decline in employee engagement during the last year. Gallup’s reporting is consistent with my own company’s observations of our clients, many of whom had increasing employee engagement scores over the last several years, only to fall in recent months.
It feels like a perfect storm.
The job market remains ultra-competitive. Amid higher wages (still up 6.2% through July, according to ADP) and low unemployment, employees have choices. Expectations of their employers are much higher, not only for increased pay but for benefits and other perks.
Employees are demanding flexibility. As hybrid takes form, employees are comparing notes with their families and friends, many of whom work in highly flexible environments. It can be hard to reconcile reporting to work at your manufacturing job when your best friend from high school is working as a digital nomad from Portugal.
Employers are requiring people back in the office. The pendulum has swung in the last few months, with some employers such as Meta, Google and JPMorgan Chase demanding their employees back in the office as often as five days a week. There have even been major publications suggesting that “the Great Resignation is dead.”
But is it? It feels as if some employers have overplayed their hand. My company’s employee engagement studies have revealed that many workers resent their employers for forcing them to be in the office for reasons they perceive as arbitrary.
If employee engagement is a predictor of retention, and if retaining key people is one of their top priorities, should they rethink their position on hybrid work? The short answer is only if they really want to keep their people.
Given the current market dynamics, employers of choice will have to find ways to re-engage.
Set very clear expectations for remote work policies.
If your company sets a number of days for employees in the office, explain why and what is expected while they’re there. For example, structure it so that perhaps Tuesdays are for departmental meetings and financial reviews and Wednesdays are for manager one-to-ones. Do not require your team to do work in the office that they can do just as well at home. Reserve in-office days for the most important collaborative work activities.
Reengage with your team.
A mistake many companies made was abandoning best practices they introduced during the pandemic. For example, many temporarily adopted town halls as a method to cascade important information about corporate goals and announcements. As a result, there is now a void where employees don’t feel in the know. Communication has become hyper-critical in a hybrid environment, so make sure you have a corporate communication plan. Just like with a customer, you may need to repeat your message five to seven times before it’s heard.
Conduct regular employee engagement surveys.
It’s become the cost of admission that employers of any size (100 employees or more) survey their workers on a regular basis. There also needs to be a feedback loop enabling two-way communication. Companies are moving toward quarterly pulse surveys, and employee engagement metrics are a key performance indicator.
Play back your HR improvements.
It’s critical that takeaways from surveys be played back to the employee base. In other words, improvements should be articulated in a set of HR initiatives that are formally reported and tracked. By regularly sharing information about the positive changes you have made, employees are more likely to take part in surveys and will be more candid with their feedback.
Be stellar at onboarding.
Half of hourly workers quit in the first 120 days after being hired. Put another way, onboarding annual turnover is 150% in the first year of employment. Employers need to go all-in on employee onboarding. While some low-value activities can be done remotely, studies reveal that onboarding is a high-value activity that should be done in person when possible.
It’s important not to confuse onboarding with new-hire orientation. Onboarding begins before an employee is hired and, in my experience, should last at least three to four months, depending on the role and level of seniority. While the successful onboarding of a candidate requires planning, it’s not hard to do. The employer generally knows weeks in advance when an employee is starting, so there is no reason not to have their equipment, passwords, office location, etc. sorted out.
Offer a personal touch, including a cultural immersion on the first day. This is possible even for larger companies. For instance, we have private-company clients with more than 300 employees that still include direct connection with the CEO on a new worker’s first day of employment. To do this, look for ways to inspire with inexpensive personalized gifts and celebrations.
Let employees define flexibility.
Employees’ definition of flexibility versus that of their employers are measurably different. By listening to the voices of employees (through surveys and a two-way communication system), employers can gather more information on what their employees consider flexible. Working from home a couple days a week may not cut it.
By focusing on the entire employee journey, employers can create a measurable competitive advantage.
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