Long story short: Time for a retention strategy audit

April 22, 2022 10:04 AM

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If you’re at a loss for why employees are leaving your organization, it’s time to look at your retention strategies and make some adjustments.

Forty-four percent of employees are searching for new jobs this year, according to Willis Towers Watson. Whether it’s for better pay, better benefits or more flexibility, employees have the upper hand and aren’t afraid to walk away if a job doesn’t feel right. In this week’s top stories, EVP of TD Bank Jennifer Young explains how she’s supporting employees with robust benefits and empathetic leadership, so that they feel supported and heard. The bank has a flexible hybrid policy, and has continuously adapted the benefits to support employees in and out of the office.

For employers who don’t, they shouldn’t be surprised when employees look elsewhere, Young says. “People will make a choice to say, I’m going to opt out and find an organization that will accommodate or who is more evolved in their thinking.”

But how do you know what your employees want if you don’t ask them? That’s where a stay interview could come in — meet with employees to discuss their current role and explore growth opportunities, before they look elsewhere. See how it’s done, along with a few other strategies for keeping your staff engaged:

Ready for a raise? Here’s the number your employees want

The average employee says a salary increase of $5,780 would considerably improve their life, according to a survey by CouponFollow, a coupon tracking platform. Yet most employees will be out of luck when it comes to acquiring those extra funds. Just 9.4% of employers have plans to offer more than a 5% salary increase in 2022, according to a February report by Payscale. The largest share of companies surveyed — 32% — plan to stick with a 3% pay bump.

However, Payscale found many employers are feeling the consequences of those meager increases: 44% say pay is the reason they are losing talent during the Great Resignation. Here’s how employees plan to use their raise, and how employers can retain employees if a salary bump is not in the cards.

Read more: Ready for a raise? Here’s the number your employees want

7 tips for retention-boosting 'stay interviews'

The stay interview helps managers understand how employees feel about their current role and growth opportunities, ideally before the employee would even consider looking elsewhere. Stay interviews not only offer a chance for managers to understand whether their talent wants to leave, but what would motivate them to stay.

Associate editor Deanna Cuadra connected with Kate Grimaldi, senior director of enterprise talent strategy at Paylocity, to lay out a blueprint for conducting a stay interview and valuing an employee’s opinions about their role now, and where they see themselves in the future.

Read: 7 tips for retention-boosting 'stay interviews'

How TD Bank is transitioning its 95,000 employees to hybrid work

Jennifer Young, TD Bank’s executive vice president of HR, has a full plate when it comes to addressing the needs of the company’s massive workforce. To keep employees engaged and energized, the bank is allowing workers to login remotely or return to the office. No matter what they choose, the bank’s focus is on supporting their health and well-being.

“We ground all of our decisions in what is the right thing for our customers and colleagues,” Young says. “What are your colleagues telling you? It's very practical — happy employees are engaged employees, and engaged employees produce better work.”

Read more: How TD Bank is transitioning its 95,000 employees to hybrid work

Is it a match? This AI platform is connecting contract workers to new gigs

As flexibility has become non-negotiable to a post-COVID workforce, some workers are ditching the 9-to-5 in favor of contract and freelance work, which can provide more freedom (and often more income). But in a tough talent market, that’s created an additional challenge for employers: How can we find and hire contract workers — fast?

Associate editor Paola Peralta spoke with Tim Rowley, CTO of PeopleCaddie, which created an app in 2018 that allows highly skilled contractors like software engineers and developers to find temporary work. In the wake of the pandemic, they’ve rolled out a new suite of features to further accommodate the growing industry of contractors, who can now build out their profiles, set availability and control their data in order to share their skills with prospective employers and search for targeted opportunities — without constantly hustling or doing outreach.

Read more: Is it a match? This AI platform is connecting contract workers to new gigs