How to keep your employees happy is trending right now. With the so-called Great Resignation upon us, attracting and retaining talent hasn’t been this difficult or debated in years. So why exactly are people leaving? Well, if you haven’t seen this meme, this is a good place to start.

For many, this is very real – they’ve been putting in extra hours, missing out on time with their families and are rewarded with… pizza, a virtual happy hour, a pat on the back on an internal social media platform. For others, this is an exaggeration to point out the endless cycle of disingenuous employee engagement tactics half-heartedly deployed to show appreciation in the easiest way possible.  

Don’t get me wrong, we love a good employee engagement campaign! We’ve done some great work with amazing clients that contributes to their employee’s wellbeing in meaningful ways.  

But, we’ve got to be honest…

We don’t want to be your first stop when employees are disengaged  

All of our employee engagement and communication plans, strategies and tactics are pieces of a larger wellbeing puzzle. Before you look for the next new shiny tactic, make sure you’ve taken the entire employee experience into account and consider these questions:  

1. ARE COMPENSATION AND BENEFIT PACKAGES FAIR AND COMPETITIVE?

The importance of finding passion and purpose in your job cannot be understated, but at the end of the day fulfilling passions is a secondary consideration – we work for money and healthcare.

Before you can start to inspire a sense of purpose across your organization, it’s essential that employees’ fundamental needs are met. There are lots of free resources available to get a baseline for compensation benchmarking as well as industry-specific reports for purchase (psst– we recently partnered with Bananatag on a salary report for internal communicators!)

2. DO PEOPLE HAVE CLARITY IN THEIR ROLE?  

Employees need to have a clear picture of what tasks they’re expected to complete, of course, but it doesn’t stop there. Ask them what they expect of you as their leader or manager.  

Prioritize conversations around ways of working, communication expectations and preferred methods of feedback. Don’t leave your people wondering what they’re supposed to do and how they’re supposed to act to ace their upcoming performance review.

Sharing clear expectations, and regular feedback, will remove the anxiety of the unknown and will allow them to focus on the actual work at hand.  

3. IS THERE OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH AND LEARNING?  

Particularly considering the pace of change in many industries driven by technology and changing consumer demands, employees need to be equipped for adaptability through training and education.  

Keep in mind, growth doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. Some people have the drive to climb the corporate ladder, while others would prioritize a lateral move to learn new skills or become a subject matter expert in an area of interest. Having regular conversations about development and growth will allow your employees to feel confident that you support their career path and will be able to envision a future at your organization.

YOU MIGHT BE THINKING… I KNOW ALL OF THIS!  

WE PAY WELL, GIVE CLARITY AND HAVE OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH!  

But have you confirmed your thinking with your employees? Check out our white papers on assessing and planning your employee experience and employee engagement surveys – you might be surprised what you learn!

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