Over the last several years we have been conducting research into the reasons people stay or leave organizations. We focused on the ability of organizations to attract and maintain employee engagement as this substantially affects both top and bottom line financial and operational performance. The results are skewed towards younger workers in their 20s and 30s. The results are as follows:
- Organizations with a positive reputation, particularly in terms of their culture, values, and treatment of employees, are more likely to be recognized and attractive to job seekers. Applicants tend to research a company’s reputation and reviews before deciding to apply. Particularly when looking to hire people from specific schools, organizations, and professional skill sets, a positive word-of-mouth recommendation from current or former employees can be significant. This helps top line financial results by the ability to engage top talent with innovative skills and expertise. It reduces bottom line costs in turnover costs. It helps maintain consistency of operations, customer interface, and internal functioning thus increasing top line and reducing bottom line costs.
- The pandemic has brought an enhanced level of comfort for flexible work arrangements for employees and companies. As you have heard from multiple research results, many employees today value flexible work arrangements such as remote work or flexible hours. It offers the option of hiring employees from different physical locations, overseas, different states, and communities thus expanding the organizations diversity of skills and insight. Offering these options improves employee morale by reducing their commuting costs, child/pet care costs and employee time. These benefits increase top line financial performance by maintaining a skilled and experienced workforce. This strategy reduces turnover and reduces turnover costs. It can also help the organization save money on the need for office space, heat, light, electricity, parking and other overhead costs.
- Finally, in both surveys from 2010 and 2023 corporations offering training and development are very attractive to younger employees (20s and 30s). It makes sense as these employees are looking to grow in their professional experience and value. Investing in employees’ skills and knowledge improves their performance and increases their value to the organization. This can lead to increased productivity and higher quality output, which can lead to increased revenue and profits.
By considering these areas and others that may be specific to your organization, you can identify opportunities to make savings in your HR department while also improving overall employee engagement and performance. If you would like help and support creating an HR strategic plan identifying top and bottom-line opportunities, let us know.
