In the hourly industry, employer turn-over is inevitable, however, when you lay off employees, there are often negative impacts to the workforce such as morale issues, survivor’s guilt, and a loss of trust. What can you do to create a better employee experience and help them feel more secure and to retain the best talent you have?
First, ensure you have a tight connection between marketing, communications, operations, and other functions that can help with coordinated execution of a positive employee experience.
“Companies that treat employees, ex-employees and stood-down workers with compassion, clarity and transparency when times are tough are setting themselves up as employers of choice and will reap the rewards.”
Jenny George, CEO at Converge International
Here are some ways you can provide better employee experiences throughout each stage of employment:
- Provide resources for improving health and wellness with offerings that help support the whole person, not just the employee.
- Assist employees with financial stress during this time when their finances may be affected by inflation. Assistance can come in the form of early access to some payroll funds or other means of support that works for both you and the employee.
- Take the temperature of your current company culture and identify if there are any gaps in areas such as diversity and inclusion – then set a plan in motion to bridge those gaps!
- Create growth opportunities for your high achievers. Show them you are putting your trust in them by helping them further their career development by creating internal training opportunities, certificates, or work with third parties that provide education services for your employees.
- Review your current talent pool and examine pay and salary during times of inflation. Also, take a look at what some of your competitors are offering for wages with the same types of positions. Higher wages may not seem like a benefit to a business trying to cut costs, but they can force a company toward higher productivity. By increasing worker productivity, businesses can pay more per employee and still come out even or ahead of the game.
“The No. 1 thing that employers focus on is compensation when it comes to retention. It’s not the only thing. But it’s the biggest thing. And if you have the opportunity, if you’re capable of raising wages, you’re going to do better in terms of retaining your employees than organizations that don’t.”
Senior Principal, Gartner HR practice as quoted to HRExecutive.com
Outside of compensation, providing a better experience not only raises morale and boosts productivity, but can help retain your best people! And when you need to hire, you can rely on Efficient Hire’s Recruiting & Applicant Tracking solution to make it easier – from helping you manage your hiring processes better to staying compliant across your organization. Get in touch today to learn more!