Right now some of the biggest concerns facing the country are about the massive cost of living increases we are all experiencing, the mortgage rate rises and the pessimistic economic predictions, not to mention the crazy weather patterns.
A tough environment in which to successfully run a business!
This last year has shown us how difficult it is to find the right talent to drive your organisation forward. This has led to a close and careful scrutiny of what is motivating employees to join, to stay or to leave.
Standing at the centre of every business’s success are it’s people, and the need for management to attract and retain it’s top performers. Your people will not be immune from the winds of worry sweeping across the country.
These concerns, which are mainly about money, are parachuting into the employment field.
When Covid was at it’s peak and was pretty much all that anybody spoke about, the employment focus was very strongly on employee wellbeing, and on the flexibility that was needed to successfully run an organisation. As the intense concentration on Covid has eased, the flexibility that was required then has become embedded in most organisations as a primary employee requirement for happy employment. The Government’s tardy rejigging of the Immigration settings helped usher in and exacerbate a period of labour and skill shortages that is still with us today. It has meant that employees have been, and still are, in a strong position to dictate employment terms.
Wellbeing continues to stand as a work in progress in many organisations, and still demands attention. However, flexibility is now predominantly a given and was really more last year’s news.
Flexibility has mainstreamed.
Employees are being hard hit with a weekly grocery reality check and believe that a worrying picture of what their personal financial situation is likely to look like going forward is clearly emerging for them.
Flexibility has now been overtaken by PAY as a primary consideration challenging employers.
Pay is now becoming top of mind for employees.
So, what can you as an employer do to ensure that you can attract top performers, and also retain your best people?
- Review your remuneration policy to see that it realistically addresses the 2023 employment situation and talent shortage
- Review your organisation chart and identify the top/key people that you cannot afford to lose. Also identify key roles in your organisation.
- Conduct a market check to ensure that you are paying at the correct level for identified people/roles
- Make sure that you are having regular catch ups with your people, and ask them how they are going at these sessions. If you understand their thinking you may be in a position to accommodate their needs and prevent them leaving. There is nothing worse than a resignation surprise
- Look to see how you can stretch your salary/wage budget
- Do some innovative thinking to see how you can pro-actively retain these key people. This may require some different solutions fashioned for each key person
- Make sure that your flexibility offering really is up there to meet employee needs
- Keep working hard at developing an organisational culture that is attractive to be in
The overall message is that things have moved along quickly from Covid’s big days, and that pay has edged flexibility as the big front of mind issue for most employees – although flexibility is still right up there as a must have element. As employers, it is imperative to assess the situation within your own organisation. Give deep thought to what influence you believe the pay you offer will affect the recruitment and retention of the talent you need in the next year.
Positive People have over 25 year’s experience working with organisations to ensure that their pay offering hits the mark. Call us on 09 445 1077 or email info@positivepeople.co.nz