Keeping Your Best People — Some Changes to Consider

We’re all aware of the Great Resignation. From mid-pandemic onward people quit their jobs in droves. Some left for greener pastures while others just left.

A huge percentage didn’t feel appreciated.

Companies have struggled to keep their best people and — according to a study by the University of Phoenix — though they haven’t left yet, many people in those companies are looking to leave.

• *28% say they would leave their current job without having another job set up
• *69% of that 28% said they’d think seriously about staying if their employer fixed some things

  The University of Phoenix’s 2022 Career Optimism Index Study broke the 28% down even more:

• *29% do manual work
• *31% are in direct services
• *22% work in offices

  All that aside, the survey said a huge percentage of workers are actively looking for work now, or they’re going to be doing so in the next six months:

• *52% are actively looking for work now or will be in the next 6 months
• *77% said they are ready to job hunt right now if the need arises
• *81% of Generation Z (up to age 25) workers are looking
• *73% of black Americans are looking
• *61% of those with an annual income of under $50,000 are looking

  These are changes the university’s Optimism Index says employers could make current employees happy and keep them:

  Job security

• *52% of workers see themselves as easily replaced
• *41% worry about losing their job

  An emphasis on mental health support

• *85% of employers say their employees have access to mental health resources
• *Less than 50% of employees have taken advantage of those programs for stress management

  Workplace advocacy

  * Just 63% of employees say they have an advocate in their professional life

  Training opportunities

• *500 employers were surveyed on their perception of life in the company
• *Their responses were compared to employee answers
• *89% of employers think they provide plenty of opportunity for an employee to advance their skills
• *Just 61% of employees say that is true

  More compensation

• *Just under half of employees are unsatisfied with their compensation
• *56% of employees say they live paycheck-to-paycheck