After two full years of COVID-19 adjustments, half-baked return to office plans and experiments in engaging virtual and hybrid teams, ‘The Great Resignation’ is the latest buzzword for collective panic in the business community. It’s everywhere. It’s unavoidable. And it’s also real. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) January 2022 jobs report indicates that while unemployment has remained largely unchanged, the number of job leavers has increased. What does that mean? It means there are more jobs right now than job-seekers, supporting an atmosphere of higher standards for what candidates are looking for in their next position. This is putting pressure on organizations to rethink how they attract talent and how they can stay competitive from the very beginning of the talent funnel. Layer in the changes from remote work and you have a nationwide jobseeker mentality of “what's in it for me?”.

A lot of businesses are seeing this as a challenge, but I think it’s worth reframing this as an opportunity. Higher turnover means a better, more qualified pool of talent available for you to hire, or said another way: there’s never been a better time to find and retain top talent. The key is thinking about this long-term—it’s not about solving for the short-term, it’s about taking a deeper look at what your company offers long-term. How can you permanently improve your employee experience? How can you permanently improve your hiring process? These are often areas of the company that get short shrifted. But now’s the time to reinvest in your employee experience end-to-end and fix issues you’ve potentially had for years. You have an opportunity to shine and cut through the noise, while other companies are still struggling to figure out what’s going on. You have a chance to either leap ahead of the pack or fall behind—which will it be?

Here are a few thoughtful, tangible actions you can take right now:

1. Define & commit to the lifestyle you want (and can afford) for your employees (time with family, work/life balance, career training, travel, etc).
   As I wrote previously in ‘The Big Rebrand’, jobseekers are literally shopping for their preferred lifestyle and directly comparing it to your competitors. At the very least, you should know what experience and lifestyle you support within your organization. How does this lifestyle support your company mission and vice versa? Spell it out and make it known throughout the entire company. 

2. Communicate your benefits and “Total Rewards package” UPFRONT.
   Once everyone inside your company knows how your employee lifestyle is intertwined with your company mission, it’s time to tell people outside your company. Build a candidate experience that highlights the entire value your company offers to employees. Find a way to calculate the total dollar amount offered for all the benefits, vacation time, bonuses, etc. that you already pay for! Share the high level value in your job postings at the beginning of the process and make sure you attach a Total Reward breakdown with your offer letters at the end of the process, so as candidates compare you with others, they know the full picture.

3. Invest in your process.
   The systems you use, the messages you send, and the processes you create around your employee benefits and experience need to be in top shape. There’s no more room for outdated software and pre-pandemic copy-and-paste communications. You don’t have to be Disneyland with curated touchpoints at every corner for each of the five senses, but… you shouldn’t be too far off. The playing field of attraction and retention has been redrawn. The parameters have changed. What are you doing to ‘wow’ candidates along the way? And to further ‘wow’ new hires once they’ve signed? At this point, going all-in or going alright could very well be the difference between a sustainable talent pipeline or an uphill battle for years to come.  
   

Yes, it feels like the world is in flux, but here’s the truth: we’ve always known people want to feel passionate about their work. We’ve always known people want to be rewarded for hard work. The difference is—they’re finally at a point where they won’t accept anything less. The core assumptions about how, why, and where people work have changed, but it hasn’t come out of the blue. And it’s not an unsolvable problem—it just takes some thoughtful planning and action. 

The companies who make the deepest changes are the companies who will be rewarded with the best talent for years to come. The Great Resignation may be the Greatest Opportunity.

Alexa Baggio, Founder & CEO of PERKS. Discover what’s possible for your team or learn more at www.perkscon.com.