employee retention Archives

4 Benefits to Help Boost Post-COVID Employee Retention

by Kubair Chuchra | Jun 8, 2021 | Blog

4 benefits to help boost post-COVID employee retention. An employee mass-exodus could be coming to the post-COVID workforce. What can employers do to keep top talent?

According to Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index, 40 percent of the global workforce is considering leaving their employer this year. The mass employee exodus is due in no small part to a changing work landscape and increased employee burnout as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Low employee retention rates cost organizations millions and put additional strain on team members who remain and have to pick up the slack. One solution to increase employee retention is to offer creative benefits that empower employees and make your company stand out from the rest of the job market.

Here are four benefits to help your workforce boost post-COVID employee retention rates.

1. Increased vacation time and bonus with tenure

Most companies reward employees with higher bonuses and more vacation time the longer they stay with the company. To ensure this benefit structure incentivizes early employee retention, companies should have longer vacation time and higher bonuses kick in after just one year of employment.

2. Accessible commuting benefits

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced many employees to the benefits of a commute-free work day. No matter what form it takes, commuting adds stress and hours to the workday. Making it easier for your employees to get to and from work is a productive way to stand out amongst other employers.

Commuting benefits can come in a variety of forms. Some, like public transportation and bicycle-share passes may cost employers up front, but they also signal to employees that their company values their time and money. Other benefits, like public transportation schedule dependent start and end times and company organized carpools, do not cost employers and still look after the wallets and schedules of employees.

If your company can operate remotely, offering employees with long-commutes more remote-work days is also a great way to stand out in the employment market.

3. Physical and mental health wellness resources

Offering employees resources to improve their physical and mental health demonstrates care and prioritization for their wellness outside of the office. While not every company can afford an on-site gym, making room in your HR department’s benefits budget for resources like employee gym passes, access to virtual dietitians and motivational and mental health related speakers could go a long way.

4. Comprehensive financial wellness resources

According to a 2021 Capital One CreditWise survey, 73% of Americans rank their finances as the most significant source of stress in their life. Helping your employees manage their financial stress and reach their financial goals through a comprehensive financial wellness program is one way to help them combat this problem.

Employers looking to increase employee retention must do more than just offer a 401-k and other retirement savings plans and offer employees the resources to empower them financially. Best Money Moves’ insightful, comprehensive, and easy-to-use platform can do just that.

Best Money Moves is a human-centered and individualized approach to financial wellbeing. The comprehensive and user-friendly platform provides a plethora of financial resources and educational tools. The library of resources contains over 700 articles, videos, and calculators. Each Best Money Moves user has their personal feed tailored to the several distinct factors that monitor their personal stress.

Employee information is always private but employers do have access to key analytics that show overall employee financial stress and stress levels over time. The Employer Dashboard also features information on program usage, debt and savings levels and more so employers can see just how valuable Best Money Moves is to their employees.

If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company, download our whitepapers.

Employees Are Planning to Quit Post-COVID. What Can You Do About It?

by daniel@bestmoneymoves.com | May 11, 2021 | Blog

Employees are planning to quit post-COVID. What can you do about it? Many employees burnt out from the COVID-19 pandemic are looking to leave their employers. How can workforces keep their top talent?

The return of in-person work has ramped up across the country, following the national vaccine rollout. However a new problem is on the horizon: An estimated 1 in 4 workers plans to quit their job once the pandemic ends, according to Prudential Financial’s Pulse of The American Worker survey from March 2021.

Considering the challenges of working at home during the pandemic and the increasing reports of burnout, news of an employee mass-exit may not seem surprising. If organizations want to keep their strongest team members happy and in-place, it’s important to understand why so many employees are planning a post-COVID career change.

Here’s why more employees are planning to quit post-COVID and what you can do to avoid the wrong end of the potential mass-exit.

Flexibility is here to stay.

Working from home has been an adjustment for many teams, but not one without its silver linings. Remote work offers employees a sense of agency over their schedule and flexibility in their lives, something that has been sorely needed in the uncertain early days of the pandemic. And employees are taking notice. In fact, according to the same Prudential Financial survey, 68 percent of employees agreed that a hybrid workplace model is the best fit.

What’s more, a lack of flexibility could directly contribute to employees quitting post-COVID. The survey also highlighted that 42 percent of respondents said that if their company doesn’t offer long-term remote options then they will look for a company that does. When so much of life is out of your workforce’s hands, a hybrid workplace might just be essential to employee wellness.

Employees fear the pandemic has erased upward mobility.

After a year at home, many employees are asking themselves if their personal career growth can be still achieved in their current environment. The Prudential Financial survey revealed that of the respondents planning to quit after the COVID-19 pandemic, 80 percent expressed concerned about career growth.

So, what are some ways to improve your company’s internal mobility? For one, consider your current employees for new positions before new hires. If you can reward an individual’s hard work by promoting them, you’re building loyalty and long-term sustainability. Other strategies to consider are investing in external workshops to support the upskilling of your employees, or creating a system of internal mentoring that places value on mutual feedback between peers and managers.

Isolation leads to disconnection.

According to the Prudential Financial survey, another major factor for the large number of employees on the move is a lack of connection with coworkers. In fact, 42% of workers planning to leave post-pandemic gave their employers a “C” grade for ability to maintain company connectedness during COVID-19. To learn some strategies to improve employee culture and engagement check out our previous articles on the subject.

The pandemic has been a difficult time for everyone and many folks are seeking change. The thing is, for many companies that change can come from within.

If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company, download our whitepapers.

Is Your Employee Doing Side Work?

by LizStevens | Sep 25, 2019 | Blog

Is your employee doing side work? Employees work side hustles to earn extra income in their off-time and these are the types of side jobs they’re taking on.

Is Your Employee Doing Side Work?

It’s called a “side hustle.” And, the latest research shows about one-third of U.S. employees, approximately 57 million people, are working side hustles to earn extra income.

Should traditional employers be concerned about an employee doing side work, also known as “moonlighting?” Maybe, and for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the most important: More than 80 percent of Americans who currently have a side hustle are interested in doing it full-time, according to a recent SunTrust survey.

Are your employees doing side work? If so, what job(s) are they doing and how much are they making?

What Work Is Your Employee Doing On the Side?

AppJobs recently analyzed applications for side gigs to determine what the most popular side hustles are and how much they pay. The most popular side hustles are jobs that don’t necessarily require previous work experience, particular skills, or a degree, but still pay fairly well. Here are the top five most popular side gig categories according to the data gathered by Appjobs:

Delivery (105,314 applications) pays an average rate of $17.10 per hour
Freelance (95,866 applications) pays an average rate of $25.33 per hour
Petsitting (21,620 applications) pays an average rate of $13.17 per hour
Cleaning (14,143 applications) pays an average rate of $11.29 per hour
Driving (11,199 applications) pays an average rate of $14.36 per hour

“Hundreds — maybe thousands — of companies are making it easy for Americans to make extra money,” says Kathy Kristof, an award-winning journalist and editor of $idehusl, a website that reviews and rates online platforms that offer ways for people to make money on the side. “We’ve researched, rated and reviewed more than 300 of these online platforms. Where Uber and Lyft get miserable scores with our formula, there are probably 100 platforms that provide engaging, well-paid opportunities that could provide $500 to $2,500 per month in additional income. These opportunities involve teaching, cooking, creating tours, writing, programming and renting out everything from your carpet cleaner to your swimming pool.”

Which Generation Makes the Most Money from Side Work?

The SunTrust survey looked at how much individuals in each generation demographic make working a side hustle and found:

Millennials make an average of $10,972 from working a side hustle each year
Gen Xers make an average of $8,791 from side work each year
Baby Boomers make an average of $5,892 from side work each year

“Millennials often take on side hustles because they’re not earning enough to pay off their student debt and still have a life. Baby Boomers, who are retiring (or near retiring), are in the market because they feel like they’re not quite financially stable enough to leave the working world without some other way to make money,” says Kristof.

Should Employers Worry About an Employee Doing Side Work?

“Smart side hustlers are using their extra income to pay off debts and boost savings. That makes them a bit more confident about their ability to withstand a job loss. So, if their bosses are mean and miserable, they’re in a better position to walk away,” says Kristof.

“That said, what side hustles don’t give you are employee benefits and a work community. If an employer has a great benefits package and a positive, supportive working environment, most people won’t leave that — even if they have a side hustle.”

If you do notice a spike in your turnover rate, however, Kristof advises, “Ask yourself: How is my company faring in this changing workforce? Are we a place where people want to work, or are we just a place to collect a paycheck?”

“If you are nothing but a paycheck, you should worry — or, better, change. Ask yourself if you have tools in place to encourage your best workers to thrive. Are you talking to your workers? Do you know what they want/like/need from you? Are you listening? The freelance economy is bringing a sea change in the workforce. Those who are smart enough to adapt are likely to thrive.”

More On Employees and Management Strategies

Office Dress Code Policies in Today’s Workplace

Top 10 Workplace Etiquette Rules for Communication

Building Office Culture with Diversity and Inclusion

Hiring Trends to Watch in 2020

Why You Need to Train Employees for Future Tech

Top 10 Employee Benefits for 2020

2 Simple Strategies to Improve Office Culture

Is Rehiring a Former Employee a Good Idea?

How to Improve Gender Diversity in the Workplace

How to Make Traditional Work Better for Freelancers

How Do You Retain Employees?

by LizStevens | Aug 20, 2019 | Blog

How do you retain employees? Forty-three percent of workers will look for a new job in the next year, putting employer focus on retention strategies.

More than 80 percent of employers are concerned about retaining employees — and with good reason. Almost half (43%) plan to look for a new job in the next 12 months, according to research from global staffing firm Robert Half.

“In a tight employment market, workers have more options, and the grass may look greener somewhere else,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director for Robert Half. “Employers can help prevent turnover by learning what motivates their most valued employees and customizing their retention strategies. While money is an important motivator, benefits or growth opportunities are also strong enticements.”

How Do You Retain Employees Looking for a New Job?

Robert Half asked respondents if there was one thing their employers could do that would convince them to stay at their current jobs. The top answer was what you’d expect: more than 40 percent of workers would stay if their employer offered them more money.

Access to more time off or better benefits would retain 20 percent of employees looking for new jobs. Nineteen percent of workers would be happy to stay at their current job if they were given a promotion. A new boss would retain only 8 percent of employees. Lastly, 10 percent of employees said there was nothing their employer could do to convince them to stay.

What Employee Retention Strategies are Companies Using?

Forty-six percent of employers are increasing communication with employees through town hall meetings and employee engagement surveys in an effort to retain more employees. Just over 40 percent of employers are improving employee recognition programs and providing professional development to improve employee retention.

Enhancing compensation and benefits is the retention strategy 40 percent of employers are using, which makes sense since more than 60 percent of respondents said more money, time off or benefits would keep them at their current job.

Other employers are providing reimbursement for ongoing education, facilitating mentorship programs or working with interim staff to prevent full-time employees from becoming burnt out.

Surprisingly, 7 percent of employers aren’t using any employee retention strategies. If they knew nearly half of their employees would be looking elsewhere within the next year, we bet they’d reconsider.

More on How to Retain Employees

How High is Work-Related Stress and What’s Causing it?

Choosing the Most Important Benefits to Employees in 2020

Is Rehiring a Former Employee a Good Idea?

How to Retain Hourly Employees

2 Simple Strategies to Improve Office Culture

How to Make Traditional Work Better for Freelancers

What Are the Consequences of Too Much Tech?

How Do You Improve Employee Retention?

by LizStevens | Oct 30, 2018 | Blog

If you want to know how to improve employee retention, you need to know why employees quit and Work Institute’s exit interview gives you a great place to start.

The vast majority of employees who quit could have been retained, according to Work Institute which conducted over 234,000 exit interviews.

Roughly 30 percent of employees will leave their jobs in 2018 to work somewhere else. “Employee turnover is anticipated to hit record highs and cost U.S. companies more than $600 billion in 2018,” Danny Nelms, President of Work Institute, writes in his introduction.

From 2009 to 2017 the unemployed persons to jobs ratio fell from 7:1 to 1:1. The national average for open jobs has seen an inconceivable 141 percent increase since 2009. Work Institute expects the number of employees leaving their jobs to increase as involuntary turnover will continue to decline (by 25 percent over the next two years).

Why Do Employees Leave?

A lack of career development was the most common reason employees left their jobs in 2017 (for the eighth consecutive year). More than 30 percent left their jobs because of the type of work, either because they wanted to change industries and do something different or because they found a better opportunity. Over 20 percent left their jobs because there wasn’t a chance to acquire new skills, or because promotion and advancement didn’t seem possible. Almost 20 percent left their jobs to go back to school and advance their careers, or because it was too overwhelming to balance work and school.

More than 10 percent of employees quit because of a poor work-life balance regarding their company’s schedule, commute, flexibility or travel. In their explanations for their responses employees said their employer lacked flexibility for new parents or those dealing with a family emergency, had them travel too frequently, wouldn’t allow them to switch shifts, or they found a job with an easier commute.

Manager behavior was another main driver for turnover, primarily, for 35 percent of employees a managers unprofessionalism was enough to drive them away. For almost 20 percent it was a lack of support or poor employee treatment. Management behavior that employees took issue with included: supervisors using inappropriate language, yelling at them in public, failing to stand up for their team with upper management, communicating poorly, uppermanagement staff that was either hostile or overly friendly with one another, favoritism and inconsistency in management practices.

Workers also left for their jobs in favor of their own well-being, citing personal issues, life challenges or medical issues. Or because of compensation and benefits, for example, one worker said they left because they had been with the company for 8 years without a single raise.

Other workers left because of unfavorable job characteristics, like being overloaded or underscheduled. And finally, six percent of employees left because of the work environment, most commonly because of problematic co-workers or an unfavorable culture.

What Can Employers Do to Retain Employees?

Employers can use the information from Work Institute’s report to target areas of their organizations that could be contributing to the main drivers of turnover, but they’ll have to evaluate which categories are most applicable to their business. Work Institute notes that each organization has its own unique drivers for turnover, for example, one company loses employees mostly due to relocation and retirement while another company loses them because of job characteristics or compensation and benefits.

New employees accounted for 40 percent of turnover in 2017, almost a 20 percent hike from 2016, giving an area for most businesses to target for improvement. An effective onboarding process has to be a priority for companies looking to reduce turnover. Schedule, compensation and type of work were the top three reasons employees left in the first year. Setting up realistic expectations in the interview and the onboarding process can help improve new hire retention.