How to Tackle Attrition Rate During Economic Crisis?

Attrition is one of the lingering problems every business owner has to deal with. It is one problem that only aggravates at the time of economic crisis. It takes a lot to develop an efficient and productive team. And losing it or having to see it go haywire is the worst nightmare.

Are you wondering how to attract and retain your best team without having to pay big salaries or bonuses? The Covid pandemic has taught us many lessons. One of them is how you thrive as an organisation depends on how you take care of your team. This means keeping your employees safe, engaged, and motivated.

A business leader has to carry enormous responsibilities. Getting and keeping the right people on board is one of them. It is crucial to their success, especially in today’s world of low employee engagement and high turnover.

The Covid crisis: A major challenge for employees

As work from home becomes popular in this time of the pandemic, the employee motivation for remote staff is becoming important for companies. Remote employees are often left out from certain discussions, and they feel disconnected. So, you should have more internal communication with these staff, and keep them in the loop on all important developments.  Also, simple things like providing air-conditioning or Wi-Fi at their workplace can boost their morale.

What are the incentives outside of profit-sharing that help you grow and retain talent? This question is on the minds of most HR leaders. In this article, we will show you some ways on how to motivate employees during a crisis.

1. Provide a safe work environment

In these times of the pandemic, your priority would be to provide a safe, secure, and sanitised workplace for your employees to protect their health. Maintain social distancing protocols through changes in the physical infrastructure.

Continuous monitoring of health, like taking temperatures at intervals, is an essential requirement.

2. Make a positive impact

A recent survey by the Prudential Group shows that making a positive impact on an employee’s life is the most important reason for his/her success on the job. Three out of four employees value employee benefit as the key reason for staying on the job.

Consider having a car-pool system to facilitate employees coming to work. It will reduce their travel time and also save money.

Long duration work-from-home and extended work hours, sometimes drain the team emotionally and mentally. Symptoms like anxiety, fatigue, and high levels of stress are some of the harmful outcomes. So, many businesses are engaging mental health professionals to counsel the workforce.

3. Let employees do the work they love

Each employee has got a special skill set. For example, a numbers guy would do well in accounts, while a sociable person might find marketing more comfortable. Try to match the skills of your employees with the right job. Then, they will make the days count and not count the days!

4. Good work-life balance

You can support your employees in their efforts to balance work and life, through your company’s decisions, policies, and values. For example, you can allow your employees to telecommute two days a week. This will save employees commuting time and expense.

5. Flexibility

Many employees crave for more control over their daily schedule. Putting more emphasis on results rather than the number of hours worked gives people more control over their lives. They feel trusted which is very important to build up morale.

You can shorten the work week to four days with extended working hours. This will provide flexibility to your staff and increase productivity.

There are certain positions where you do need to be at your desk for certain hours. But in these cases, you can have people cross-trained, or you can hire a few part-timers instead of a full-timer.

6. Time-Off

What is the one thing that we all want more of?  Yes, you guessed it right! It’s more time. How can we be generous about giving people time off? Many companies give people six weeks of paid vacation.

You can also give your staff something called ‘Inspiration Days’. They are basically paid time-off in which they can do something fun and inspiring. They can go to the museum, head to the beach, or learn cooking.

7. Encourage frequent communication

Try to schedule daily video call meetings with your team members. Frequent communication with work-from-home employees encourages higher productivity and engagement.

Keep the doors of your office open. Any employee should be able to come to your office if he/she wants to talk about something. At times of crisis try to be seen around the office. It will help the employees feel more involved and less scared.

Have one-on-one meetings with the staff to know whether they are stressed, or facing any difficulties. Train your managers to analyse their behaviour, and look out for signs of stress.

8. Invest in the best technology

Make sure that your people have the most up-to-date software, laptops, and phones. Provide 5G data connection to help them stay connected 24x7. As far as possible, try to upgrade your technology. This will cost money, but try to negotiate discounts from the suppliers.

The best technology not only helps people be more productive, but it also builds company pride and team motivation.

9. Establish clear goals

An employee without a goal is like a horse without a rider. The reason why employees often do not do their best is due to a lack of clear goals and expectations. Explain clearly what you need from them and give them targets or goals to achieve.

10. Challenge employees to grow

Achiever’s Engagement and Retention Report of 2020 says that more than 40% of employees might consider leaving the company if they don’t find a growth path ahead. Have great expectations from your people and challenge them to learn new skills. Give them a project that they have never done before. You will be pleasantly surprised to see the results.

No one rises to low expectations. The best people want to step up, not level out.

11. Keep people involved

People want to help, especially in difficult times. If you ask your staff to help, they will be more than happy to make a difference. Figure out a way to keep your employees involved in the planning and decision-making of different projects. As a consequence, they will start treating the projects as their baby.

12. Appreciation and acknowledgment

This is one of the most important things you can do to attract and retain talent, and it is also much underrated. Make appreciation, celebration, and public acknowledgment of hard work, a part of your company’s culture.

For instance, if your team achieves a milestone you can take them out for lunch. Or, you can have a small in-house party, complete with confetti and balloons. Let the hair down and enjoy!

Give a small gift to each employee, and enclose a hand-written card inside it. Write a brief note on the card explaining how much you appreciate that employee’s hard work throughout the year. This will surely act as a great work motivation.

13. Create Problem Solving Groups

In too many companies the prevalent thinking is “This problem is someone else’s problem”. Involving your senior management in problem-solving group work week will help to energise and motivate the junior members of the team. Actively foster a culture that encourages team development.

A crisis is the best time to engage with your team. Remember that we are all in this together, regardless of our job title or seniority. We hope that this article will help you to sustainably guide and motivate your employees through a dark phase.

Also Read:

1) How to Start a Computer Training Institute?
2) How to Invest Money? Investment Tips for Small Businesses
3) How To Start A Car Rental Business?
4) How to Start a Coaching Institute for English Speaking Class?

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FAQs

Q. In what ways can problem-solving groups contribute to your business?

Ans. They can be tasked with finding new ideas on how to grow the business or explore the competition.

Q. Why do many companies sponsor the gym membership of their employees?

Ans. Exercising helps the staff to keep fit and also beat stress.

Q. How can I engage my remote employees in team-building activities?

Ans. This requires a bit of creativity but can be done through video calls.

Q. Is paying a bonus for additional work a good practice?

Ans. Though it can lead to employee motivation, in times of economic crisis, it might not be appropriate.

Q. How can I know if any of my employees are facing some issues, but do not want to speak about it?

Ans. One way to solve this problem would be to give a questionnaire to your employees, which they can fill in private.