NOTEBOOK: Employee Roller-Coaster Ride

Strategies for hiring and retaining workers from the frontline to the back office was top of mind among this year’s Executive Summit attendees. Everyone is seeking that special key to unlock workforce stability among their ranks this winter.

I came across a really interesting idea on labor retention that I needed to share with the snow and ice community. I follow Dan Schawbel’s Workplace Intelligence Weekly on LinkedIn, and his recent enewsletter features a conversation with Melina Cormier, VP Growth at LumApps, which focuses on the employee experience.

Cormier shares some key takeaways from LumApps’ new report, Attract, Engage and Retain: The Employee Experience Advantage. Grab a copy by CLICKING HERE. It’ll just cost you your email address to get the whitepaper in your inbox.

So, what the heck is the “employee experience?” It’s defined as the sum of all the interactions employees have across the difference touchpoints in their day-to-day work lives, which many business leaders believe this is a direct link to overall business success and carries as much weight as the customer/client experience. Makes sense, right?

One concept Cormier touches on is that business leaders must realize employee expectations have been drastically reshaped in recent years and during the ongoing Great Resignation. Job seekers aren’t just looking for new jobs. Rather, they’re seeking options that include better perks and benefits, hybrid work models and greater flexibility.

She says: “Employees have taken the time to reflect on what they want from their careers, and many are deciding to change jobs or abandon the workforce entirely. The clock is running out for organizations to persuade their workers to stay — but they are persuadable if employers can get to them in time.

“The largest misconception regarding employee experience is that the employee lifecycle is linear,” Cormier adds. “Most people believe that only new hires are highly engaged, and this engagement slowly decreases until they quit a few years later — but this couldn’t be further from reality. In actuality, an employee’s lifecycle in a company is more like a rollercoaster, made up of key moments ranging from onboarding and performance appraisals to relocation, maternity leave, and more.”

She sums it up by suggesting that smarter investments that addresses these notions can have a significant impact on the employee experience, and thus help mitigate key employee loss and improve your chances of attracting key talent.

Definitely, this is some food for thought.

Mike Zawacki is editor of Snow Magazine.