Employee Retention: What Today’s Employees Are Looking For

• September 26, 2018

Today’s workforce is a different breed from the dedicated 9-5’ers of yesteryear; this makes employee retention an entirely new ballgame. The current financial landscape has a great deal to do with it. The internet allows consumers to buy more than ever before with a few clicks of a mouse, while real estate prices continue to rise and income rates remain relatively static.

Decades ago, 40 hours a week at a menial job could buy a house, a car, and a middle-class lifestyle for an entire family. Those days are over. Today’s workers may not intend to create a family and sustain it in the traditional sense; both partners in a relationship usually go to work every week. Therefore, the landscape of employees’ expectations has changed, as they attempt to derive deeper satisfaction from employment than ever before.

Employee retention is a matter of ensuring that their expectations are met.

I recently had the opportunity to partner with a company called Beaconforce. They have built software that allows managers to survey their employees a twice a day to determine their employee’s mindset: how satisfied they are with their work, and how comfortable they feel with their managers.

In the process of building the software, Beaconforce learned that the key expectations for today’s employees include a feeling of purpose and belonging, autonomy, freedom, clear goals, continuous feedback, and a sense that they are growing and improving over time. Today’s employees also want to be challenged and have an aversion to boredom.

The software Beaconforce developed creates a chart demonstrating the employees’ level of satisfaction in each of these areas, along with their level of trust in their managers (and the company at large.) It also indicates how often they are in their “flow zone”—feeling fulfilled and constructive in their work, as opposed to stagnant and/or confused.

So, let’s say the software reports that employees are not entirely satisfied. Perhaps they don’t feel a sense of autonomy, they are bored or, worse, they don’t trust their manager. What’s next?

That’s where my partnership with Beaconforce comes in. As a transformational business coach, I work with managers to identify their blind spots and determine which ideas and behaviors are creating a less-than-ideal environment for their employees. In the days that follow, managers have the opportunity to make choices regarding how they relate to their employees, rather than continuing to act in the same way that generated the problems they want to address, to begin with.

If you are in a management position, with or without the Beaconforce software, it is very important to pay attention to each individuals’ satisfaction to ensure employee retention for your company.

If employee retention is something you are struggling with or something you simply feel you could improve, consider a three-month coaching package. Six sessions (once every-other-week) can identify blindspots you were completely unaware of. The resulting changes in management style will make a huge difference in how your employees feel about working with you.

Contact me to set up a free consultation to discuss what this particular program looks like, and how it can benefit you. Also, if you have any questions about employee retention (or how you might create a better work environment for your employees) feel free to contact me directly, or leave a comment below!