The past two years have been fraught with challenges for employers—the pandemic affecting employee safety; the Great Resignation and resulting talent shortages; increased employee burnout and quiet quitting; career changes and top talent retirement causing a staffing crisis; and a wave of layoffs brought on by rising labor costs and slower business growth. Unfortunately, these challenges continue in 2023.
Finding and keeping talent won’t get easier. To tackle these recruiting and loyalty challenges, employers will need to implement creative retention initiatives, innovate differentiating programs, and reassess their benefits packages to combat attrition. In 2023, we will see benefit themes that support four main strategies to attract and retain employees: building a diverse and inclusive workforce, improving company culture, prioritizing holistic wellbeing for employees, and investing in cutting-edge technology and tools.
76%
76% of employees would consider seeking new employment if they discovered an unfair gender pay gap or lack of a DEI plan at their company (ADP).
34 M
A study of 34 million employees found that a toxic corporate culture was by far the biggest predictor of attrition (MIT Sloan Management Review).
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
DEI programs that are tailored to meet employee needs will result in increased employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention. A diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace is often a more productive and engaged one, so companies will have to continue to invest in this space. To attract and retain employees in 2023, the key will be to include DEI in culture and in benefits.
Broaden benefits like emergency savings and retirement funds so that employees from all backgrounds and stages of life can take advantage of them.
Support financial wellness by offering personalized, flexible wellbeing programs like education or student loan assistance and tuition reimbursement. These programs play an intrinsic role in supporting DEI.
Consider offering family planning services including fertility, adoption, foster placement, surrogacy programs, and reproductive health benefits. These programs are gender-neutral and inclusive of your employees’ family planning situations to support DEI goals.
Elevate DEI initiatives within the organization and treat them as a company-wide goal with measurable outcomes for which employees can be held accountable for achieving.
Create a DEI recruitment plan that includes new audiences, active partnerships with outside agencies (e.g., colleges, school districts, job training programs, neighborhood or civic associations, specialized media, and private sector groups), and outreach that communicates in ways that best resonate with audiences.
Provide benchmarks and insights to your employees to drive DEI progress. Focus on closing pay equity gaps by being transparent with your data. Consider providing employees with tools to take action and help monitor for improvement in your company’s ethics and values.
Give candidates the ability to change and schedule interview times and provide reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates in your hiring process.
Company Culture
Improving company culture is all about delivering an employee experience that integrates people’s full lives, a people-first culture that invests in a robust benefits portfolio, talent retention, strong leadership, and work-life balance. Employers will need to identify what employees want and make sure to consider the key factors that can lead to burnout and workplace dissatisfaction.
Communicate and advertise the full value of your benefits like health insurance, pensions and retirement plans, deferred compensation, pay transparency, mandatory PTO, paid leave, mental health assistance, flexible scheduling, and loan or housing assistance. Voluntary benefits (especially accident insurance, critical illness insurance, hospital indemnity insurance, life insurance, identity theft protection, pet insurance, and student loan repayment assistance) work well to improve company culture.
Help employees feel more valued, respected, and connected to their organization by focusing on pay policies, offering more benefits that encourage employee wellbeing, and creating opportunities that help employees build interpersonal relationships at work.
Create Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies to show that you genuinely care about people and the environment. Consider adding volunteer days to your list of employee benefits. Companies that demonstrate corporate social responsibility with their ESG strategies (such as standards for sustainability, the environment, effects on workers, and the wider community) are more likely to attract and retain good staff.
Establish programs and cultures that support a healthier, more vibrant community, inside and outside of the workplace. For example, invest in regular travel for remote workers to promote purpose-driven connectivity and community, instead of maintaining disparate offices.
Make learning and development (L&D) opportunities a top priority. Upskilling and reskilling are among the largest drivers of employee engagement and strong workplace culture. During these times of inflation and economic uncertainty, employees are seeking the skills and opportunities that bring promotions and a salary rise. There is a new expectation of growth and development, so employers will need to prioritize career advancement and internal hiring for company success. Look at providing dedicated training programs, subsidies or funding for further education, and mentoring opportunities. And remember, L&D impacts much more than just training. It can impact engagement, innovation, team dynamics, culture, and job satisfaction.
Practice leadership that is both inclusive and human. Employees who feel included have higher levels of wellbeing and engagement at work, as good management will help combat quiet quitting and quitting in general. Additionally, employees want to be treated as individuals, with personalized benefits that are attuned to their specific needs, instead of one-size-fits-all benefits. Employers can start by understanding the different priorities among employees, how they think, and what influences their decisions as individuals.
Holistic Wellbeing
A holistic focus on employee wellbeing is vital for attracting and retaining staff in 2023. Employees want a better work-life balance to be able to spend time with their families and communities. Employers will need to review, update, better integrate, and promote wellness resources in all areas of wellbeing including physical, mental, emotional, financial, social, environmental, and even spiritual.
Create an environment that will be conducive to employee’s physical and mental health. Ensuring an employee and their family have access to quality, affordable health care, along with personalized guidance, is a critical component of attracting and retaining talent. Innovate differentiating programs such as health and productivity, employee recognition platforms, and organized “special events” like food truck days or scavenger hunts.
Ensure that your benefits and programs prioritize and support financial wellness. In addition to providing PTO and competitive compensation packages, be sure to maintain retirement plan funding to support long-term fiscal stability. 401(k)s are substantial workforce recruitment and retention tools.
Engage with your employees. Learn to lean into difficult conversations with team members about their financial stress, workload, health, or childcare issues. Work with your employees to better understand their career goals, preferred professional development paths, and the aspects of their jobs they find most rewarding.
Reinvest in your employees and their needs. Employees have increased worry and stress over the security of their jobs and their financial wellbeing. This increased anxiety leads to loss of inspiration, burnout, and absenteeism. By reinvesting in the needs of your employees, you can help reignite interest and passion in their work and co-workers.
New Technology & Tools
Investing in cutting-edge tools and tech will help organizations improve employee engagement, save money, and streamline HR processes. Tapping into data with the right technology and providing intuitive and personalized tools will help employers build meaningful connections with their people.
Make it easier to manage employee data and administer benefits, allow organization to adjust benefits in real time to reduce the risk of errors, and can trim costs in a competitive labor market.
Allow companies to manage and track employee development in real time and access the right courses and development opportunities at the right time. Cloud-based L&D can also be integrated with other HR systems (such as employee performance management and career development) so that development can be tracked and used to improve organizational performance.
Has the potential to help companies save time and money, provide employees with a more immersive and engaging experience, and conduct risk-analysis training, which can help employees become more prepared for various emergency situations. VR technology can provide a hands-on way to help employees master essential skills as they walk through real-life training scenarios at their own pace.
Make it easier for employers to analyze results and use them to inform decision-making, identify areas for development, gauge employee satisfaction, collect employee feedback more frequently, and improve employee engagement levels.
Can be used to respond to employee questions, help with onboarding, drive more personalized candidate experiences, analyze large amounts of employee feedback data to identify common themes and trends, and greatly reduce the time and money spent on surveys by mining employee sentiment and wellbeing metrics straight from organic data. AI can also scan job descriptions to determine the skills and requirements needed for each role (which helps recruiters target the best candidates for certain roles) and automate the recruiting process (though conducting virtual interviews and screening candidates).
Ensures that employees can visit a doctor without worrying about taking time off or risking exposure to viruses in a hospital setting. Employees want to visit physical and mental healthcare providers from the comfort of their homes or even their offices.
Builds a better employee experience and is one of the largest drivers of employee engagement and retention. Years of Service awards, on-demand rewards throughout the year, and point-based platforms show appreciation for the efforts of employees. Consistent peer-to-peer recognition fosters a feeling of belonging and builds critical connections and positive relationships. Incentive initiatives (such as wellness, learning and development, referrals, lead generation, process improvements, social giving and impact, safety, hitting goals, saving money, etc.) support the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators of employees. Forward-thinking organizations can implement these R&R strategies to drive key company outcomes and save money.
SOURCES: BenefitsPRO; Employee Benefit News; Zywave
