Amidst the Great Resignation, most employers find retaining talents a challenging task. To make it worse, Millennials today seem to perceive job-hopping as something justifiably normal. While they are completely aware of the fact that job-hopping may look bad on their resume, it does not stop them from looking for challenges and opportunities in new places. While each individual has their own reasons for doing so, this leaves employers in frustration with the job-hopping trend.
Let’s take a closer look at this trend and what HR managers can do about it.
Most Millennials feel their employers are not working hard enough to build better programs for employees. According to a survey by Randstad, survival is job-hopping’s primary driver for employees, particularly Millennials. They enjoy making significant advancements and are always on the lookout for ways to make their lives better and easier, which includes seeking better employers and better careers. Job-hopping helps workers reach both of these goals because it means trying out a variety of roles and workplaces while learning new skills along the way. Strategic job-hopping has been all but necessary for as long as these talents can remember. Employees today know they could be laid off at any time, so they plan defensively and essentially consider themselves “free agents”.
Yes and No. The thing with job-hopping is that it means more millennial employees are aware of their worth and are unafraid to move out of a place where they are not appreciated. This is the mindset that employees should actually have in mind, which is perceiving themselves as something more than a money-making tool for the company. Employers are lucky if they have employees who are well-aware of their worth, turning them into confident employees who are also often great achievers at their job.
Many employers, on the other hand, often worry about job-hopping normalcy as this means they need to always be on the lookout for waves of resignation. One of the obvious drawbacks is that job-hoppers can be a company’s biggest reason for higher hiring costs. Needless to say, it will hurt the company’s ROI if not addressed properly. Not to mention, hiring frequent job-hoppers is disadvantageous in terms of productivity, team morale, and consumer loyalty; something that could sabotage business operations in the long run.
How millennials are inclined towards easy switching jobs at the snap of a finger does impact employers in a big way. This requires employers to carefully understand what the millennials want and expect from a job, taking into consideration the major shift in workplace dynamics to facilitate learning and growth with the company. Employers begin to emphasize employer-employee communication around job expectations, flexibility and work-life balance, learning-and-development initiatives to promote employee growth, and many more.
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At this point, it is clear that the key to keeping employees is to encourage and involve them at all levels of their employment. How, exactly, is the question. Here are three among the most practical suggestions for you.
The comfort of working remotely during the pandemic’s lockdown may need to be extended, as many employees now prefer this arrangement over the conventional work-from-cubicle routine. Working remotely makes it easy for them to just switch jobs that offer workplace flexibility, making job-hopping more prevalent than ever. Many millennials who have started their own family may prefer a job that allows remote working or hybrid working, even if it pays slightly less than a full-time office job. They feel like they can spend more time with their family and watch their kids grow if they can work from anywhere, not strictly from the office.
Many new businesses take this trend seriously by opening job positions that allow remote or hybrid work setup, luring top candidates who put work-life balance as a priority. If you do not want to lose top talents, you need to keep up with such a talent trend. You can start by offering flexible work arrangements. Since not all employees want full remote working, you can offer them to choose whether they want to work fully from the office, work in hybrid, or fully remote. As long as they can do their job functions well, there seems to be no reason to not adopt the policy.
It is no secret that Millennials want to contribute creatively to the company and have their ideas heard more than prior generations. To make sure that this is fulfilled, you need to nurture a company culture that appreciates everyone’s creativity and their different pace of growth. This allows employees to advance professionally in each position, which will persuade them to stay longer since they will feel belonged and appreciated for who they are. Also, keep track of their improvement through one-on-one sessions. You should be aware, however, that there is a kind of feedback that genuinely helps (two-way feedback) and input that lowers employee morale (one-way feedback). Employee feedback is critical in letting them realize that they and what they are doing are essential to the company.
Solid communication between employers and employees is one of the most important things in long-term collaboration. Therefore, you need to establish an open communication channel right from the recruitment process. Make sure your new hires do not have the intention to leave after only a short period of employment in your company. During the hiring process, make sure to explain your company’s values. Candidates who would quit due to value disparities will filter themselves out if they are aware of what they are signing up for when applying for roles at your organization. Although communication appears to be straightforward, many companies fail to do so, putting employees in the dark about what is expected of them. Keep in mind that expectations are more than a list of obligations and activities. Prioritizing in a way that is related to a company’s goals, performance influences, and self-achievement is what it entails. As a result, ensuring that your employees fully comprehend what you expect of them and that you are aware of what your employees expect of you helps to avoid employees from feeling lost and unsupported.
In the end, preventing your employees from getting a better life outside your company is not a wise move to take. The only way you can stop job-hopping from becoming normalcy is to improve your management from within. If you treat your employees well, pay them fairly, and make them feel belonged, there will be very little to no reason for them to even consider changing jobs.
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