Interviews

How to retain talent during the great resignation

Talent retention is something which every organisation benefits from and should put in efforts to keep their employees engaged and motivated. Many companies today have special talent retention programmes to ensure employee grievances or challenges are addressed effectively. In light of this, Ms. Juveri Mukherjee, Global Head Human Resources, Aurionpro Solutions shares her insights on how enterprises can take measures to retain top talent during the great resignation.

 

What have we learnt about ‘talent’ and ‘workforce expectations’ from the Great Resignation phenomenon? What should employers, Universities and the ecosystem be cognizant of/considerate of now?

The Great Resignation has been a learning experience and a game changer for our way of working and way of thinking about talent, work and workplace. Many studies have thrown light on the fact that we lost talent to competition majorly due to the following top reasons – Poor work/life balance, burnout, lack of career growth and inadequate compensation.

As HR professionals, it becomes very critical for us to understand expectations of the workforce to help the organisation navigate through these highly volatile business landscapes.

Being in HR, we have to be cognizant about the fact that our current workforce is diverse – employees come from different generations, gender and regions along with their varied expectations. Being open and inclusive to diversity of any kind is key to creating opportunities.

In this war of talent, in my experience the workforce of today has the following expectations:

  • Competitive compensation: It is important to take the question of money off the table
  • Robust and flexible benefits programs
  • Flexibility: To choose their place of work
  • Career progression and development
  • Creating a learning environment
  • Support stress reduction and work-life balance

Lastly, as an HR professional it is important to understand the pulse and look beyond the obvious: we need to focus on enhancing employee experiences, create a more diverse and inclusive workforce, and build psychologically safe environments for employees to thrive.

 

What should employers, Universities and the ecosystem be cognizant of/considerate of now?

Post Covid, we have landed into a whole new realm of workplace, talent and organisations. Studies and data have shown that a better salary package is not the only solution to attract and retain talent. There is more to it. Today’s talent is re-evaluating their values, interests, and career options in the aftermath of the pandemic, particularly in the IT and knowledge industries, where work can be done successfully from anywhere.

Hence to make a fully functional ecosystem we need to be:

  • Inclusive to diverse talent pool in organisations
  • Accept the new normal – Create flexible hybrid work environment to attract and retain talent
  • Enable team collaboration and bonding
  • Upskilling and reskilling programs for career growth and future proofing careers
  • Create satellite workspaces for attracting & retaining talent
  • Support better work life balance with a focus on mental health

 

What kind of skills do we need for the ‘Human in the Loop’ aspect of talent as we embrace more and more emerging technologies? How well are we moving in that direction?

Change is the only thing that is constant. Even earlier, industries and organisations have evolved and so has talent. With technology coming in and with limited shelf lives embracing change has become even more critical for business and talent. Organisations need to focus on upskilling and reskilling programs aligned to business goals and career goals of talent. Creating a constant learning and development environment becomes key to retain talent. It also helps in creating succession planning, leadership pipeline who later become the torchbearers of organisation culture and values.

It is important for every individual to be open to learn, ability to unlearn and learn again.

I believe organisations have always realised the importance of developing skills. Saying that, I believe, current times will witness even more thrust in that direction where we will witness more robust and structured skill development programs where technology skills, behavioural skill, soft skills and emotional skills go hand in hand.

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