Retain Employees with Remote Working

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According to the Office of National Statistics, total job-to-job moves are at a record high 988,000, and it's largely driven by resignations rather than dismissals.

Alongside this, the UK has one of the tightest labour markets it's ever seen, with a record 1.3 Million job vacancies.

Retaining the most valuable talent in your business is becoming harder to do, and people are more likely to resign than ever if they think the grass looks greener.

So in this article, we're taking a look at the top reasons people are resigning at the moment.

The Great Resignation - Why?

Since the end of the pandemic, the rates at which people are leaving their jobs have been increasing without sign of slowing, and currently, rates of voluntary resignation sit at the highest ever recorded (According to the Office of National Statistics). When coupled with the highest amount job vacancies recorded, employers and businesses are on the backfoot, and keeping hold of their best talent needs to become a top priority.

Understanding the reasons behind why people are often resigning is the best way to address them. A poll asked 2000 respondents for the areas which employers should focus on if they don't want to lose their best staff. Take a look:

  1. 42.1% Want/need a career change
  2. 41.3% Higher salary
  3. 40.7% The uncertainty of the pandemic delayed an inevitable decision
  4. 38.9% More flexible working opportunities
  5. 33.2% Burnout

Looking at the top reasons, it's hard as an employer to address an employee just wanting to change careers, or feeling burnout, these issues fall under the jurisdiction of management, work culture, and the workload an employee is under. Higher Salaries. We chalk all but one thing on this list to context-specific management tasks, and sometimes, they can be impossible to implement.

However, one item on this list does stand out as a very modern issue, "More Flexible working opportunities".

Flexible Working

During the lockdown, a lot of office workers experienced a home working lifestyle for the first time, as the nation and world were social distancing. Parents got to spend more time with family and lengthy commutes didn't eat into the hours on either side of their working time. Having to return to the offices again 5 days a week is a hard thing to feel excited about, and when another business might be offering either full time work from home, or hybrid working it's understandable that nearly 40% of those leaving their jobs are citing flexible working as the main reason.

What to do

Home-working has been the subject of lively debate, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs called home working an "aberration" to be "corrected as soon as possible, while tech companies like Microsoft have made remote working a permanent option for employees. Their attitudes, however, reflect the notions of their respective industries too, financial industries are less keen to see the merits of home-working than tech companies like Twitter and Microsoft. Perhaps for good reason.

Step 1

Assess whether home-working is a viable strategy for you and your employees. Businesses that rely on apprenticeships and mentorships from their management are less likely to thrive in this type of situation, whereas task-based businesses, like programming and technology-related businesses, are better suited for remote working, especially when that sort of work is solitary, even in an office.

Step 2

Decide whether you're going to commit to giving a full-time home-working option or a hybrid approach.

Full-Time Home-Working

Again this really depends on the tasks and responsibilities that your business deals with, but ask yourself

  • "If my employees can't verbally communicate at a moment's notice throughout the day, how would that affect my business?"
  • "Is the nature of my business second-by-second, and reactive, or long-term project and deadline-based?"
  • "Does the nature of my employees require constant checking from outside management sources or colleagues?"

Depending on the answers to these questions, allowing a full-time work from home option could be a viable strategy for your business,

Hybrid Working

Hybrid is the middle-of-the-road solution for your business and is great for areas where the answer to the above questions is "it depends". For instance, in positions like Marketing, Product Design, or Engineering, the beneficial elements of working at the office are necessary, but the job is still project-based, and less reactive on a moment by moment basis, so being in the office some days of the week, and at home for others wouldn't harm productivity.

Step 3

Decide on the technology needed to accomplish the home working. The different computing ecosystem presents different computing requirements to remain safe and productive.

Cyber Security

When people might be working on their own machines, the risk of cyber-attacks increases, so a good cyber-security plan is smart to have, having managed endpoints, user awareness training and cyber essentials can save you a nightmare down the line.

Learn more about Cyber Security Solutions HERE


UC

A Unified Communication system blends multiple forms of communication so everyone in the office can communicate via text, video, and voice through one client will enable a quicker, more efficient network of communication for your organisation, as well as a way for the company culture to take a new digital form.

Learn more about Unified Communications HERE

See Also

Get in touch for advice

Knowing where to start with Remote Working can be hard, but our advice is always free. So get in touch!

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