We have gone through an unprecedented time which has changed how we view our lives. The current situation in workplaces, therefore, could almost have been predicted. After all, if we are re-assessing everything that makes us happy, why wouldn’t we look at the place where we spend a third of our lives?
Why People Are Resigning
The Great Resignation is the result. Two-fifths of people are unhappy with their current work and are considering leaving their job in the near future, which poses an exciting opportunity for staffing agencies that can fulfill the changing needs of today’s workers.
The main reasons cited by employees who are leaving their employer in the near future are:
- Lack of career development
- Inadequate pay
- Uncaring bosses and managers
- Their work doesn’t feel meaningful
- Their work isn’t flexible enough
- Support for well-being
Moreover, 75% of employees state that they want to work for organizations that are making positive contributions to society.
Connecting With Candidates
This provides a valuable framework for staffing agencies that are seeking to connect more deeply with candidates during the Great Resignation.
Offer clarity around career development. Firstly, make sure you and your client organizations have clear career pathways for candidates — and communicate this early on, ideally during the interview process. If vertical promotions (to managerial roles, for example) aren’t possible, look at lateral moves into other departments that will continue to stretch and challenge candidates. Nobody wants to feel like their career is going stale, so provide experiences that enable them to continuously learn and develop.
Meet Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a pyramid model that describes the motivation behind our actions. At the bottom are our basic physiological needs like food and water, financial security, wellness and safety. Then we move up the pyramid to social needs and esteem needs. At the peak of the pyramid is self-actualization, where individuals are focused on fulfilling their potential. If you cannot meet the basic needs, people will not reach the upper levels — and that’s why many people are switching jobs to more financially secure ones. In other words, cut corners at the bottom of the pyramid, and your workforce will never reach its full potential.
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Check in with candidates. Setting up regular, informal meetings with candidates will help you build a personal connection with them, getting to know their individual needs and passions. It will result in more successful placements and greater retention of candidates. It will also help to address the third point of why people are leaving their employers — if they feel like nobody really cares about their work, why would they stay? At the very least, if they find their current line manager isn’t meeting this need, they will turn to you, their staffing consultant, to help them navigate their next step.
Build meaningful work together. If you’re connecting with candidates regularly, you’ll begin to understand what drives them and provides meaning in their careers. This will give you a better idea of what placements will suit them, and together you’ll be able to shape a career path that doesn’t just pay the bills but also gives greater satisfaction at the end of the work day.
Focus on autonomy and flexibility. Candidates are now seeking work that can fit around other needs, like family commitments, studying or simply living with greater work/life balance. Staffing consultants need to be aware of this so they can provide opportunities that align with someone’s availability. Providing a range of opportunities for a candidate to look through can also give them the power to choose the employers and roles that best suit them.
Well-being. This ties closely with building a close relationship with your candidates — allowing you to check in on their overall well-being as well as their availability and aspirations. Ideally, your relationship will be trusted enough that if they are in a role that doesn’t suit them and is impacting their well-being, they should be able to communicate this to you for your support.
Delivering a Personal Experience
Enveloping all of this is a deeply personal working relationship with candidates that allow staffing managers to anticipate their needs and goals before sharing opportunities.