The War for Talent. The Great Resignation. Quiet Quitting. We’ve all heard the trending phrases regarding talent management the past few years. Working in any type of talent management position, you know there are challenges with recruiting and retaining employees, but what if we went back to basics and worked to better navigate what is so often the make or break for any employee — how they are treated?
Often organizations default to “we need a more competitive total rewards package” or “we have to offer more remote positions” to see more positive returns with their talent management approach. While salary, benefits and ability to work from home are critically important considerations for most employees, they aren’t the only ones. How people are treated at work — the place they spend most of their time — by their colleagues, leadership team and customers, can play an equally important role in recruitment and retention.
Creating an environment where authenticity, kindness and psychological safety can work together in harmony with strategy, operational success and productivity can be a key differentiator in your talent management outcomes.
Gallup recently conducted a survey of more than 13,000 employees on the most important factors when accepting job offers. Not surprisingly, pay and well-being both placed at the top of the list. However, other factors such as “a job that plays to their strengths,” “the ability to do what they do best,” “greater stability and job security” and whether “the organization is diverse and inclusive of all types of people” were also ranked as some of the highest considerations of whether or not to accept an offer with a new employer.
Finding the connection
If you break down the basics of what job seekers are looking for, you see the connection between how people are treated at work and the impact on whether a candidate not only applies to your open positions, but if offered, would they seriously consider working for you?
Are there opportunities for empowered decision-making, challenges for new growth and upskilling, a chance to bring their strengths and passions to their work through creativity and autonomy, and multiple career progression paths that spark genuine interest and engagement? Is the company’s leadership transparent about organizational performance and goals, mission, resources and long-term stability? Do they work to place employees impacted by downsizing into other roles in the organization and treat those impacted with support and respect to assist them in finding a new role within or outside of the company when layoffs are necessary? When the company says they are inclusive, do they only focus on one or two facets of diversity and inclusion or are they truly inclusive for all employees — do they have inclusive strategies in their applicant, onboarding and retention phases for neurodiversity, those with disabilities, veterans, varied cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, gender orientation, physical appearance and other areas of diversity often not granted a targeted focus in conversations and planning around inclusive workplace culture?
We’ve seen immense workplace change result from the past three years of working through a pandemic. More than ever, employees are seeking connection in shared values with what is most meaningful to them and how that is reflected in their employers. Diversity and inclusion have also taken a more prominent role in how candidates decide where to apply to dedicate their time and talents. Forbes recently cited a Glassdoor survey where one in three U.S. employees and job seekers noted they would not even apply to a company with a lack of diversity in its workforce.
Benefits are no longer simply salary, health insurance and time off. Employees are increasingly seeking total rewards packages that include resources for their mental health and well-being following the stress and challenges from the pandemic, as well as support and resources for their family members. Adding a multigenerational workforce into the mix means not only do organizations need to drill into the specifics of what matters to their workforce, they also must consider how those needs may shift as workers get to different points in their careers and personal lives.
One employee who cares for their elderly parents may be more focused on a flexible work schedule, empathetic leadership and long-term care benefits for themselves and family members, but another employee may place more value on being asked to take on new projects and increasing responsibility as they are focused on career growth and learning new skills to feel challenged and engaged, while salary and insurance are less of a concern. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all in terms of total rewards packages and how those translate to talent management to meet the needs of the workforce; a diverse array of offerings will support a successful strategy.
The missing ingredient
How you develop and contribute to an organizational culture, from the top down, that treats everyone with respect and makes it clear they are valued no matter their role/title/length of service at the organization can be the critical ingredient you are missing in the recipe for talent management success.
Think of a time you’ve been asked if you know someone who would be a great fit for an open role in your organization. What kept you from reaching out to a friend or network connection to tell them to apply? Conversely, if you did reach out, what were you excited to share with them?
In one of my most recent positions, I ran into an employee at a coffee shop in town after I’d had my first interview. I didn’t know this person, yet saw they were wearing a shirt with the company’s logo and stopped them to ask about their experience working there. The first thing they shared with me wasn’t about the pay, the time off or the remote work options — it was how they felt treated as an employee: the shared professional passions with their teammates and leadership that was genuine, transparent and respectful. I then reached out to other employees on LinkedIn and asked how they felt about working there. Overwhelmingly, they shared the same sentiments, which propelled me to keep going through the interview process and ultimately accept an offer.
However, in an opposite example, a place where I worked years ago reached out to me recently and asked if I could recommend someone for their director of HR role. I thought of many candidates with the requisite experience and skills to succeed in the role, but the organizational culture was not something I would feel comfortable referring them to, as it was negative and difficult. People were treated differently by leadership and colleagues based on where they went to college, their salary, their title, even their office location.
Psychological safety
Some of the best working environments are beginning to better harness the power of creating and nurturing psychological safety in their workforces. The concept of psychological safety harnesses all the pieces we’ve discussed so far — treating others with equality and creating inclusive work cultures, transparent and respectful leadership, opportunities to be creative and make autonomous decisions impacting our work and ethical practices extended from leadership and customers, as well as colleagues, to all employees.
Psychological safety by definition is referred to as “a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions and to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences.” If employees fear how they will be treated when contributing ideas, when mistakes happen or when going to a teammate or leader for assistance, there is a lack of psychological safety. If your team has what I call “undiscussables,” and you cannot have open dialogue about issues, this is a lack of psychological safety.
This feeling of respect, safety and recognition of value for all employees can be destroyed if even one employee is allowed to create a space where there is not psychological safety. It isn’t always a pervasive, overall organizational culture that detracts from psychological safety — one person or team of stakeholders can quickly erase the progress of the organization.
Immediately addressing behaviors that erode psychological safety shows employees the way they are treated is important to the leadership team, their colleagues and the organization. This type of transparent, focused leadership leads to stronger retention as employees see the company not just saying the right words, but genuinely caring for how folks are treated day to day. This can also lead to better employee engagement and satisfaction; we know that employees who enjoy what they do and where they do their work are more likely to refer other great candidates.
So how do you best highlight an incredible organizational culture and as part of your talent management strategy for recruiting and retention success? Go straight to the source. Work with employees to gather positive testimonials of their insights into the workplace culture and what they’ve connected with at your workplace that had a lasting impact on them: leadership development programs, ERGs, upskilling opportunities, healthy work-life balance, well-being resources offered, and ethical and transparent leadership. Highlight these testimonials on your career website and other marketing materials tied to recruiting new talent or referrals from existing employees. Survey your employees regarding what else you can tangibly do to impact workplace culture and follow up with action items and results to make those suggestions a reality where feasible. Lead by example — not only your leadership team, but every employee should be able to see the impact their words and actions have on those around them and how one person can make or break someone else’s workplace experience and ultimately their decision to join a company or stay with an organization.
We all play a role in how others feel treated at work, and we all have the power, both individually and collectively, to transform the workplace experience for those around us, thus impacting whether great candidates join our workforce and whether they decide to stay a part of the organization.
