retention Archives

How to Retain Hourly Employees

by LizStevens | May 28, 2019 | Blog

How to retain hourly employees. Research by Shiftboard uncovered what matters most to these workers to help you improve job satisfaction and reduce hourly worker turnover.

Half of hourly employees would take a pay cut for more control over their schedule or better health benefits, according to recent research by Shiftboard.

“There are nearly 82 million hourly workers in the U.S., and they make up more than half of the American workforce,” said Steve O’Brian, Vice President of Marketing at Shiftboard. “Nearly every sector of the U.S. economy is struggling to find and retain workers. Employers can leverage this report to better understand how to attract, motivate and retain hourly workers.”

Hourly Workers Want Work-Life Balance

Close to 80 percent of hourly workers agreed that work-life balance was necessary for job satisfaction. Almost 90 percent said it’s extremely important to have control over the days and times they are expected to work. Hourly workers aren’t looking to conform to a standard 40-hour work week, instead, they prefer to have the option to:

Work longer days to have more days off between scheduled shifts (89%)
Work a set number of hours without overtime being a requirement (78%)
Work more hours for more pay, as long as it’s not required (88%)

Exploring scheduling options that give hourly employees more control is a strategy that could potentially reduce turnover.

Pay Cuts for Better Health Benefits

More than half of hourly workers would be willing to take a reasonable pay cut for better health benefits. High out-of-pocket costs for healthcare have led to financial toxicity, which happens when Americans skip medications that could improve their quality of life because they can’t afford them. More than 40 percent of Americans don’t see a physician when they are sick or injured because of high healthcare costs.

Working with health benefits brokers to reduce out-of-pocket healthcare costs for hourly employees could be advantageous for employers aiming to boost retention for hourly employees.

Hourly Workers Want to Find Meaning in Work

Nearly 90 percent of hourly workers believe making a significant contribution to the success of their company is important to job satisfaction. More than 80 percent believe it’s important to receive joy from work and agree that feeling challenged at work is important for job satisfaction. An overwhelming majority of hourly workers believe having career growth opportunities is important for job satisfaction.

How to Retain Hourly Workers

“We’re finding that wages are only part of the equation. Employers need to look beyond obvious factors to effectively increase satisfaction and retention for today’s hourly employees,” said O’Brian.

Finding solutions that allow hourly workers more flexibility, developing more comprehensive health benefits, and communicating their value to the success of the company are three ways employers can improve retention for hourly employees.

More On Retention and Job Satisfaction

How Do You Improve Employee Retention?

What Do Employees Worry About?

Open Offices Are Trendy, But Are They Effective?

What You Need to Know About Employee Burnout

Are Employees Who Work From Home Happier?

How Do You Handle Management Issues?

2 Simple Strategies to Improve Office Culture

by LizStevens | Feb 26, 2019 | Blog

2 simple strategies to improve office culture. Poor company culture is one of the main reasons employees look for new job opportunities. Improve workplace culture and boost job satisfaction and retention in the process.

8 in 10 employees are likely to search for a new job after just one bad day at work, according to a study by Addison Group, a professional services and staffing firm.

Over 80 percent of workers say poor office culture is the main reason they would look for new job opportunities.

“With the job market being as competitive as it is, those who are currently employed know they can go elsewhere to find something better if they aren’t happy with their current situation,” said Tom Moran, CEO of Addison Group.

“We all have our good and bad days, but what employers can control is how they are treating and interacting with employees, how much they’re investing in their career progression plans, and how they are choosing to accurately match their salary and benefits packages to mirror what their employees want.”

Where Do Office Culture Problems Start?

Research by PwC identified the tones set by the executive team and middle management as the primary drivers of poor workplace cultures. More than 60 percent of directors use gut feelings to evaluate company culture, but only 30 percent of directors believe it to be a useful approach. Hearing from employees through employee engagement survey results, exit interview debriefs, or 360-degree feedback results for executives are the most useful metrics for evaluating office culture.

2 Strategies to Improve Office Culture

Consider Office Culture Fit When Hiring

When new employees are hired there’s an inevitable shift in the company culture as everyone adjusts. Certain personalities work well together and others simply don’t. It’s impossible to determine with certainty whether or not a new hire will be a good fit, but there are a few ways employers can evaluate candidates during the interview process. For example, by including questions for them from the team, or by having candidates spend a few minutes conversing with their potential workers as a part of their interview, employers can get a snapshot of how they might interact on the job.

Limit Focus on Short-Term Results

Excessive focus on short-term performance and hitting performance targets in compensations plans can contribute to poor company culture, according to PwC. Employees can feel pressured and overwhelmed when there’s an excessive focus on short-term performance, lowering their job satisfaction, risking burnout, and potentially causing them to look for other job opportunities. Short-term results are valuable, but zooming out a bit might be a better strategy if it means improving long-term retention.

More on Improving Office Culture:

10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Office Culture

You Need to Focus on Improving Retention. Here’s How:

Is Rehiring a Former Employee a Good Idea?

How to Improve Gender Diversity in the Workplace

How to Make Traditional Work Better for Freelancers

Is Rehiring a Former Employee a Good Idea?

by LizStevens | Jan 23, 2019 | Blog

Is Rehiring a Former Employee a Good Idea? They’re familiar with organizational operations, company culture and need less training to get up to speed, but only half of employees would consider returning to a former employer.

Most senior managers are open to rehiring boomerang employees—staff members who previously left the company on good terms, according to recent research from Accountemps.

“Companies need to leave no stone unturned in their search for talent,” said Michael Steinitz, executive director of Accountempts. “Boomerang employees are an attractive option because the firm is already familiar with how they’ll perform and fit in with the organizational culture. Returning workers also require less training to get up to speed and may have acquired valuable new skills while they were gone.”

Former employees, however, were not quite as eager for a reunion—just over half of them are likely to apply for a position at a previous company.

More than 20 percent of employees would not return to a former employer because of dissatisfaction with management. Issues with management arise when there is frequent miscommunication, limited flexibility with scheduling, or when workloads are unbalanced. Dissatisfaction with management lessens job satisfaction and can lead to employee burnout.

A poor fit with the organizational culture was the reason over 15 percent of employees would not apply for a position at a previous company. Most employees agree that company culture is important. If companies can get employees invested in the work environment and company mission they’ll be more likely to return or recommend quality candidates.

Nearly 15 percent of employees wouldn’t return to a prior employer because of unfulfilling job duties. It’s impossible to make every position feel interesting and important, but if employers can connect the work to the larger company mission, provide great benefits and maintain a positive company culture, unfulfilling work is less likely to affect job satisfaction.

Just over 10 percent of employees refuse to return to a former employer because of bridges burned by the company. There’s no way to unburn a bridge, but employers can expect that management treat everyone with respect, even when an employee has made the decision to part ways.

“Rehiring a former staff member may seem like a simple process, but it’s essential to understand why the person originally left and whether the issue has been resolved,” advised Steinitz. “The employee will not stay long if past problems keep resurfacing.”

More than 60 percent of HR professionals called the sourcing of talent “very or extremely challenging” in a recent XpertHR survey. Rehiring former employees doesn’t exactly widen the candidate pool, but it does add in a few individuals who have already demonstrated their value. It might be worthwhile to start leaving the door open when talented, reliable employees move on.

How to Make Traditional Work Better for Freelancers

by LizStevens | Dec 18, 2018 | Blog

How do you make traditional work better for freelancers? Freelancers have traditional jobs too and what they want to get from them is predictable income flow and the flexibility to continue their freelance work.

More than one in five freelancers are also employed at established companies and for most, their traditional job is their primary source of income, according to recent research by FlexJobs.

Freelancers and others working in the gig economy are looking for flexibility from potential employers. Striking the right balance between structured work and flexible work arrangements is important for employers who want to stay competitive because unemployment continues to hover at a historic low.

Research by Edelman Intelligence found some form of formal employment is necessary for most freelancers because, in most cities, the average freelancing rate falls well below the compensation needed to afford an apartment independently, and in some cases, even with a roommate.

If freelancing isn’t enough to cover basic housing costs, why are more than 57 million Americans still doing it? More than 90 percent of FlexJobs’ survey respondents said the freelancing lifestyle is important to them because of benefits like a flexible schedule, work-life balance, no commuting, self-development and the freedom to choose where they work. Over 60 percent of freelancers said it had a positive impact on their overall quality of life. Freelancing helped them become healthier, less stressed and they’re either less financially stressed or feel no difference from when they worked in a traditional job.

The two biggest challenges for freelancers are finding clients and having predictable income flow. They also struggled with handling the business aspects of freelancing (taxes, insurance, etc.), getting payment from clients and dealing with the perceptions of freelancers.

Employers likely already have at least one freelancer in the office, though they might not know who it is, because nearly 35 percent of GenXers and Baby Boomers and over 20 percent of Millennials are in the freelance workforce. And most of them aren’t entry-level employees either, more than half of freelancers described themselves at the intermediate or management levels of their careers.

Traditional jobs help freelancers gain predictable income flow but complicate their work-life balance. A normal job could limit the scope of projects they can take on, their availability to meet deadlines and limit timeframes they can meet with potential clients. Finding additional flexibility for freelancers who need it can build company loyalty and boost job satisfaction. Most freelancers are going to need a traditional job to afford housing costs, so why not employ them, give them the flexibility they need and benefit from their tenacious skill set?

What Are the Consequences of Too Much Tech

by LizStevens | Nov 27, 2018 | Blog

What are the consequences of too much tech? Technology streamlines processes but often removes human interaction to do so and recent research points to an epidemic of loneliness in the workplace as a result.

Employees spend half the workday on email and as a consequence, 40 percent of them often feel lonely, according to a global study by Future Workplace and Virgin Pulse.

What Are the Consequences of Too Much Tech?

Technology keeps us highly connected, but not necessarily to people. Fixation on technology reduces productivity and collaboration, increases the risk of burnout, and worse, the loneliness it fosters can have a detrimental impact on overall health.

MarketWatch quotes Dr. Vivek Murthy, the former surgeon general of the U.S., “Loneliness and weak social connections are associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity.”

The effect of loneliness on an individual’s health is startling enough, but increased absenteeism and higher health costs are just two of the many ways loneliness affects the workplace. Sigal Barsade, professor of management at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, found in his research that greater employee loneliness led to poorer task, team role and relational performance.

How Limiting Tech Interaction In-Office Can Help

Limiting tech interaction in-office has the potential to increase job satisfaction and employee retention. Encouraging employees to build relationships with one another can boost their loyalty to an organization. A study by John P. Meyer and Natalie J. Allen, professors of psychology at Western University in London, Ontario found how an employee perceives and connects with a company is largely influenced by their interpersonal relationships at the organization.

Two global studies, conducted by Future Workplace with Randstad, found that young professionals would choose a corporate office over remote work, and in-person meetings over virtual ones. Employee interaction is going to become an attractive recruitment perk as isolating remote work grows.

Reining in the use of tech at work can lead to less stress, more engagement, higher job satisfaction and better retention. At minimum, it helps combat the loneliness epidemic that’s sure to get worse before it gets better as technology continues to streamline processes, which in some cases means removing human interaction altogether.