One of the great challenges in the pandemic and post-pandemic business landscape has been the so-called Great Resignation, the ballooning trend that saw millions of Americans leave their current jobs in search of something else. Some retired altogether, some pursued new jobs, and some even caught the entrepreneurship bug and went independent. This upheaval has left the jobs market in a state of massive fluctuation, leading to worldwide short-staffing trouble in every industry.
However, the Wall Street Journal reported a bit of good news yesterday in their article titled, “Americans Have Quit Quitting Their Jobs.” The Journal reports that, “Americans voluntarily left four million jobs in May,” which is actually 500,000 fewer than the peak of “4.5 million in November 2021, the highest level in the Labor Department records back to 2000.” The article explains that the resignations “averaged 2.5% from March to May, down from 3% as recently as April 2022, and only slightly higher than the prepandemic level.” Even with this stabilization, “Payroll-processing firm ADP estimated on Thursday that private-sector employers added 497,000 jobs in June.”
There are a number of reasons for this, but one highlighted in the article is how many businesses have pivoted to offering more perks to retain their employees. Some of these perks have included higher pay, improved benefits, and even experimentations with four-day workweeks. Whatever the method, employers have been working to boost employee job satisfaction, and the result has been fewer turnovers.
One example cited in the article was a chain of restaurants, which in itself is a little surprising because, as the article explains, “The quits rate is typically highest in industries such as food service where pay is relatively low, advanced education isn’t required, and there are many similar employers.” Despite this reality, this restaurant change has bucked the trend by altering “its training program to reduce departures” via capping “how many new employees go through at the same time.” By focusing attention on fewer new employees during training, each person feels individually valued rather than just a member of a large stable of new people.
Employee satisfaction is, unsurprisingly, a major factor in retention. And we at The Brandt Group have seen time and again that the reasons behind why some businesses keep their people and some don’t is more complicated than just the money. Sure, pay is hugely important to many, and it certainly plays a big part in how well appreciated employees feel, but there’s even more to it than that: as that restaurant chain discovered, retooling their training program to provide trainees with more individualized attention has resulted in a higher stickiness. Employees want to feel like more than cogs in the machine; they want to be recognized as unique contributors.
The best way to ensure employee satisfaction is to have a healthy and engaging company culture. That’s one of our chief focuses at The Brandt Group, where we’ve long advocated that happy employees make for happy customers. A work environment built on the virtues of teamwork and the importance of customer service will weather the fluctuations of the economy, be it the ebbs and flows of the labor market, rising interest rates, supply-chain logistics, or whatever else comes along.
If your business is ready to take control, to make sure it’s not waiting around on the sidelines while its competitors find reinvigoration and burgeoning success, then why not drop us a line? It doesn’t cost anything to have a conversation. We’re ready to partner with your business today!
