Employees are vacating the workforce at alarming rates. There are several factors for this. Retirement, stress, burn-out, and even content workers are looking for better offers.
As if this wasn’t enough to worry about, the lack of skilled talent is making it harder to find top-tier employees to replace those that are leaving. Is your company prepared for this?
The Need for Succession Planning After A Mass Exodus
The Great Resignation has forced leadership style change as well. If an employee does not feel supported and valued, they look elsewhere. Tables have turned and the employees have taken a large role in this. Companies must take large steps to ensure they have top talent on their team. And that they are happy.
A great leader must possess a large skillset in many different areas:
This past January saw nearly 4.3 million people leaving their current job with another 4.4 million in February 2022. If you do not have a Succession Plan in place, those numbers should motivate you to get one in the work now.
Here are the Top Areas to Consider when Building Your Succession Plan:
Skills Gap
There is a large gap in skills between the generations. The younger workforce may be on top of the hard skills like technology, but they are lacking in soft skills. Soft skills include work habits, people skills, and a service mindset. Most employees are capable of the job, but they do not have the “extras” that make them a top employee.
Think about customer service representatives. They have been adequately trained and may even exceed in the technology and operating systems, but if the soft skills aren’t there, can they be considered a top employee? An employee that shows up early, is always smiling, and has the critical thinking needed to fix mishaps are more valuable to your team.
Businesses Must Always be Evolving
Employees are looking for more. More family time, more vacation time, more benefits, and more compensation. If your company cannot match the competition, then the talent will go elsewhere. And you need that talent to fill the gaps due to retirement; not creating more vacancies.
But it is all not just monetary. Millennials also want to feel fulfilled in their jobs and have a career goal that their company supports.
A special report by Prudential found that Millennials are the largest generation in the workforce and 1 in 3 say they are planning to look for a new job with a different employer once the pandemic is no longer an issue, compared to a quarter of Gen-Xers and only 10% of Boomers.
Company Culture
As the workforce’s way of thinking changes, so must your company. What was once a top priority when your company started, may not be as relevant to today’s employees. If your mission, vision, and valuables, align with that of your staff, then they are more likely to stay with your company.
Long-term Employees Must Pass Down Knowledge
Every company has that go-to employee that just seems to know everything- this history, the old system, the customers. They know the things that are not found in a training manual. Do you have a plan in place for them to pass on their knowledge before they retire? The key to effective succession planning is getting that new workforce in place before you lose immeasurable employees is critical to keeping your organization running smoothly.
Talent Retention
The Great Resignation has put HR into a difficult and reactive position, focused more on filling empty roles than anticipating talent needs to help their organization meet strategic objectives. But Succession Planning isn’t just about filling in the upcoming vacancies. You must also try and stop these vacancies from happening.
Are your employees properly trained?
Raise the bar when it comes to engaging and training new hires. With over 750 courses, we can help! Look over our extensive webinar catalog today and set your employees down the right path.
