Our Thoughts
Don’t Be Fooled: Reasons Your Top Talent Will Leave in 2019
Jun 5, 2019
Written by Karsen McKinney, Content Marketing Strategist.
Have you seen the latest workforce trends? Maybe you’re not feeling the weight of the labor shortage yet, but it’s going to impact all industries and the war on talent is, well, ON. Happy employees are leaving their workplaces for the next best opportunity. If you counteroffer their notice with a pay raise, your strategy to retain your talent is missing the mark.
Are you ignoring all the blogs, webinars, whitepapers, articles, headliners etc about the war on talent? About retaining employees in today’s workforce? About keeping employees engaged? About changing the way to work and offering flexibility and adaptable benefits to attract top talent? Well, I am here to be your voice of reason. Stop ignoring them. If you’re thinking recruiting people isn’t an issue for me or turnover isn’t an issue for me, that’s great! That means it’s the perfect time to get prepared.
That means time is on your side, and you can get ahead of the curve.
I’m not here to tell you that there’s one, two, or even three simple solutions or strategies to put into play to keep your people, but I am here to say that if you focus on how happy your employees are, you will lose your top talent.
But having happy employees is good right? Well, yes, but happiness is not an indication that this employee is staying. So, how do you gauge whether an employee is on the verge of leaving? It’s not easy, and sometimes the ones who leave will completely catch you off guard. My advice for that? Wish them well. We, employers, are not in a market to burn bridges. Candidates/ employees run this game right now.
To be honest, burning bridges with people just isn’t a best practice in general. I don’t recommend it.
“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to” is this an outdated philosophy? (Richard Branson). We don’t think so. HireLevel’s CEO once said, “I take pride in having the ability to surround myself with a strong team and providing them the independence and atmosphere to do their jobs well. I am in constant pursuit of working more strategically and teaching, leading, and empowering all team members to support but challenge each other and our processes to influence change and make an impact.”
Is “well enough”, well enough?
This level of empowerment is powerful. But is it enough? What about the other side of things, treating them well enough that they don’t want to leave? The kicker is that we can only treat people as best as we can. “Well enough” holds a different weight to every individual. It is relative.
If we can figure out how to measure the strength of “well enough” in our organizations, we will be closer to retaining our best employees. Maybe benefits play a role, maybe it’s as simple as compensation to some, but we believe it’s much more than the 1-2-3 things you should start today to keep your employees.
What key factors go into your recruitment & retention strategy? What’s your employee value proposition? Is your door open for your employees to voice their concerns or even just their feelings? Are you offering them what they need to not only be happy in their work but also happy in their life? What are you doing to support your employee’s outside of on-the-job?
Don’t be fooled. No one wants to lose top talent.
You can’t control their decision to leave, but you can control your decision to prepare & prevent. Choose to retain! Do your research, and lay your strategy out now because at the counteroffer it’s too late. The employee has already checked out emotionally, and it was not an easy decision for them.
HireLevel helps our clients recruit & keep top talent every day. Are you ready to do that?
