Avoid Post-Holiday Turnover: 5 Steps You and Your Leaders Need to Take Now

Assuming your critical talent is comfortable is not a strategy. Be proactive and ensure your team members feel valued well before the holiday festivities begin. 

Right now, career conversations are happening with members of your team even if you’re not having those conversations. Recruiters are having them behind your back, so it’s more about making sure you’re part of the conversation that’s already happening. Here’s a great podcast that touches on this:  Three Steps to Career Conversations – Coaching for Leaders that could help you have that first conversation

An actionable step following a career conversation could be aligning members of your team with the right development opportunities. Ninety-four percent of employees say they would stay longer at a company if they were offered opportunities to learn and grow².

When considering the right-fit opportunities, think about how you can champion the person versus simply providing access to upskilling opportunities. Recognizing organizations are starting to tighten their belts given macro uncertainty, have you thought about making non-working tuition assistance dollars work in your favor? 

Most companies only view tuition reimbursement as a benefit versus a strategic development opportunity, and during a recession, when there are tax benefits for organizations offering tuition reimbursement, it’s a great tool to recession-proof your development³ Enrolling in an accredited certificate program could provide employees access to student communities, wellbeing opportunities, and mentorship programs that complement what a company offers employees.  

Most managers connect constant coaching with doing a good job. In reality, this “always on” management style tends to degrade employee performance by 8%⁴. Connector managers triple the likelihood their direct reports are high performance.

You could kill multiple birds with one stone by helping members of your team apply tuition reimbursement by enrolling into development programs that also offer mentorship opportunities  scholar's program⁵.

A mentor can help frontline managers and individual contributors discover purpose in their work. According to McKinsey & Company, almost half of frontline workers don't feel they are living their purpose at work, and another 36% are unsure. Compare that to the 85% of executives that say they are living out their purpose daily.⁶

Many companies wait until the end of the year to recognize outstanding work and commend their people for a job well done.⁷

Typically, especially if employees are working remotely, we critique employees more than we recognize employees. Take a minute to recognize something positive you observed today. 

A 2022 McKinsey survey found that 40% of US employees are at risk of attrition in the next 3-6 months.⁸And the average employee is working more than nine extra, unpaid, hours of overtime per week. Despite increasing employee burnout, 77% of HR leaders believe that high performing employees work longer hours than average employees^.9

In other words, just under half of your team could be considering a job change. The 2020 shift to remote and hybrid work sparked a movement for increased workplace flexibility, but workplace flexibility means different things to different people. You likely need to discuss with each team member what their expectation is for flexibility and how you might be able to help them achieve that. 

Have that conversation today.