Are you leading so your people will stay?

I had an interesting conversation with a younger employee recently.  She was talking about the massive workload and hours that she had been working and how exhausted her and her entire team were.  Over the past 24 months she had weathered the uncertainty of lockdowns, virtual working, increased workloads and stress.  She had reached her limit and was questioning what to do.

She mentioned what many leaders are completely unaware of.  She said that she had been looking on the recruitment websites and someone with her experience in her role could be making up to 20% more than she currently was!

And this is not a one off example.  Across numerous industries and roles, many people are exhausted and looking for a break.  With the market continuing with a shortage of quality talent, this has created an increase in the amount of money that is being offered to get people to switch.

Unfortunately, the leaders are completely unaware of this dynamic.  Many executives have had to weather the storm and find ways to make it through the pandemic and the uncertainty.  Many companies have been able to not only manage through this challenge, but most of them are seeing a big boom in sales which for many will translate to profits.

The Problem: Old School Managers

Many of these leaders are old school and they believe that their people will just stay because that is how it used to be (back in the 80’s & 90’s).  Although they have lost many talented staff over the past 6 months, this will continue over the next 2-3 months.  Can your business afford to lose some of your best and most effective staff?

What can you do?

Leaders need to start showing their appreciation for the massive hours and workload that their people have put in over the past 24 months.  We need to recognise and reward them to demonstrate that they are valuable.  This is not always an increase in salary.  It could be in providing them with some skills development that will help them weather future uncertainty (and improve some efficiencies in their current role!)

If you want some help getting a competitive advantage and keeping your people from resigning, I recommend my Leadership Journey Program.  This 90 day jumpstart program is designed to lift your leaders abilities in managing this new hybrid world and keep their people performing at the next level, whilst retaining them.

Please Click Here if you’d like more information or a chat about how I can help.