By Sanjay Khatnani, Managing Partner, J2 Solutions
Every morning when I read the news, there’s always something about the great resignation. A year and a half into the pandemic, the widespread trend seems to be picking up steam. For better or for worse, the pandemic-forced remote workplace has given rise to a profound
shift in what employees want from their jobs. Today, it’s all about preserving mental health, maintaining work-life balance, and enjoying the same level of flexibility they had at the onset of the pandemic. Employees want more intrinsic satisfaction from their work—and their lives in general—and as a result, they’re being more selective.
As businesses struggle to staff up, existing employees have to bear the burden of “getting the job done,” which leads to burnout—and the cycle continues on from there. With an overworked, understaffed workforce, businesses are stunted to grow. This issue has clearly taken up residence in the forefront of my mind over the past six months, as evidenced by my monthly musings on the topic here, here, and even here. I’ve researched, pondered, and shared—then I pondered some more. Yet as I sit here today, headed into year-end with 2022 within reach, I am still very much grappling with the answer to this question: how can employers build a happy and productive workforce in light of the current landscape and staffing challenges?
Today, I’d like to open the topic up to an ideas exchange. I want to hear from you—your thoughts, perspectives, best-practices, and more.
For example:
- What are your biggest staffing-related challenges—and have you been able to overcome any of them? If so, how?
- How are you attracting and keeping talent?
- Are you talking to your current employees about job satisfaction? If so, what are you hearing? What’s working well in their eyes and what could you be doing better?
- What are you learning from former employees during exit interviews? Have you spotted any trends?
- Do you believe these challenges are here to stay or are they temporary?
- Have you made any positive changes in response to the shift? If so, what are they? How are your existing employees responding to those changes?
That being said, I must admit—though the evolving workforce constraints continue to cause me concern, these challenges have also inspired me to examine my own company culture. Today, I take a much more employee-centric approach to building company culture. I actively ask for and act on feedback that may have never otherwise occurred to me. I am excited at the direction J2 has taken in response to all the changes over the last 19 months—challenging as they are.
Please comment below—or better yet, reach out to me directly! I’d love to hear from you. Let’s put our heads together and emerge from this latest crisis victorious, as we build and nurture productive teams of satisfied employees and enjoy the business growth that goes along with it.