The easing of pandemic restrictions has led to an unprecedented wave of employees moving jobs as they re-evaluate their lives post-Covid-19. Dubbed the 'Great Resignation’, economies across the globe have seen high attrition and record numbers of open positions.

In the US, more than 15 million workers have quit their jobs since April 2021 according to a report by McKinsey & Company. The UK is seeing the same trend, with 1.1 million job vacancies recorded between July and September according to the Office for National Statistics – the highest figure since records began in 2001. In fact, 41% of the entire global workforce is planning on changing jobs in the next year, reports a Microsoft survey. 

So what is going on? It’s clear that a once in a lifetime event like Covid-19 is affecting how we view work and working lives, with such a drastic change to our traditional patterns leading to a seismic shift in our perception of work. Employees who held off changing roles for fear of job security during the pandemic now feel a little bolder in moving. 

Making employees feel valued

For employers, the new war for talent is one centred on retention. As remote working hit and we became accustomed to seeing our colleagues’ living rooms, kitchens and family, employees became more attuned to the human elements of work. A 2021 survey of HR professionals by the CIPD found that 75% believe senior leaders now have employee wellbeing on their agenda, compared with 61% in 2020. Fail to make your workforce feel valued, and you risk losing them not only to the business down the road – but to any organisation globally that offers remote working. 

A second impact of remote working has been the breaking of team bonds and social activity. As author and management guru Dave Ulrich put it on LinkedIn: “With more personal time to ponder and fewer work-related social connections, employees feel less attached to their teams and organisations and more willing to explore job and career options.”

So how can employers instil confidence and company values in new and existing talent when the employment landscape is so uncertain?

For Ulrich, one step is to reinvent the work setting. Employees who work remotely shouldn’t be forced to return to the office simply to do the same work. Instead, the office should become a place for creativity and collaboration, where culture can grow. “Employees come together to work together, not isolate,” says Ulrich. 

Ruth Penfold is a leadership coach and experienced HR professional, whose most recent role was as people practice lead at Launchpad, BP’s scale-up factory. She believes that building an authentic culture is key to engaging new and existing talent – but that doing so requires leaders to think clearly about how their people view their business. 

“If you think about the human experience of your business through a hierarchy of needs funnel, people processes have to sit at the base of that – are you meeting the basic needs of what a person needs to survive and thrive? Is the employee clear about the goals of the business and where their job aligns with that? 

“Next comes the culture piece. Do employees feel able to be themselves in your organisation? Are their values reflected in the values of the organisation? If people don’t feel those things, then they are in survival mode and won’t thrive,” she argues. 

Engaging people is also about leaders embodying the culture they want to create – and making the right first impression. 

“You can run a million wellbeing initiatives, but if the leadership team doesn’t support people to have boundaries and create an environment where people feel safe, then none of the other stuff will provide much value,” says Penfold. 

Also – it’s essential to have an agile mindset in how you build your onboarding processes. Onboarding someone in the right way is a really big deal if you want people to stick around and do their best work – trust me, it’s worth the investment,” she adds. 

The current talent marketplace is one that firmly favours the employee. The organisations that are succeeding in retaining and hiring talent are those that are articulating their brand values and demonstrating great working culture. They are also the ones – according to leadership speaker and Cass Business School professor Chris Roebuck – demonstrating strong leadership. 

Trust in leadership

“The world of work is going through dynamic change, but there are things that an organisation should keep long-term, like vision, values, purpose and what is expected day-to-day. Above all, it’s about being put into an environment where a new joiner can – and wants to – be their best. That’s down to having a leader who creates an environment where that can happen,” Roebuck says. 

The C-suite needs to remember that employees are observing every action they take and making judgements on whether they think the people leading the organisation care about them.

The pandemic has actually grown trust in businesses to do the right thing, with businesses being more trusted than governments, NGOs or media, according to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer. However, trust in business leaders has fallen, with CEO credibility at an all-time low in France, Japan, India and Brazil, among other countries. This disconnect is one reason why so many people are moving jobs.

“The C-suite needs to remember that employees are observing every action they take and making judgements on whether they think the people leading the organisation care about them. This immediately feeds into levels of engagement, effort and retention,” says Roebuck. 

Like Penfold, Roebuck believes the key is to focus on the human side of work, allowing individuals to develop new skills and confidence. 

“There are simple steps to developing talent in any world, no matter how uncertain. It’s about enabling them to develop both technical and interpersonal skills at a speed which keeps them engaged and challenged. It’s about providing support and constructive feedback, and helping them to understand their role in the wider organisation. This is possible in any environment, but it requires thought and good leadership,” he says.

After eighteen months of lockdowns and supply chain shortages, the only thing that’s certain is uncertainty. Yes, the vaccine rollout means life has returned to some sort of normality. But the economic disruption caused by Covid-19 – coupled with huge changes in the way people work – means that businesses will be dealing with the fallout from the pandemic for years to come.

Three attributes can help any business to navigate these uncharted waters: agility, resilience and flexibility. But how can managers instil these attributes in their teams? It’s a big question, so here are five ways to answer it.

1. Promote good mental health

“Let’s be honest – while better mental health brings benefits to you as a business, it’s also fundamentally the right thing to do on a human level,” says Zoë Morris, president of Frank Recruitment Group, which specialises in niche technology staffing. 

Simply having support mechanisms in place for when staff are at critical levels isn’t good enough, she explains. Instead, businesses need to actively promote the support that’s available so that staff can reach out whenever they need to.

“Whether it’s as simple as a regular mailshot or updating screensavers so that it’s in people’s eye line several times a day, the tools are there for us to get the message across,” she says, “and it’s never been more important to do that.”

Dr Lynne Green, chief clinical officer at online mental wellbeing community Kooth, also recommends that businesses provide a safe space for employees to raise their concerns and fears about the return to work, such as an anonymous pulse survey or employee engagement platform. “Then communicate back with the employees,” she says, “summarising what you have heard and what you are planning on doing to address some of the issues.”

2. Help with hybrid working

Many employees have struggled with the isolation that can come from long-term home working, but switching to hybrid working won’t be easy either. “As offices are opening, a key challenge for employees will be ensuring that they can work effectively, no matter where they choose to work,” says Paul Clark, SVP EMEA at communications company Poly.

Research conducted by Poly found that 52% of respondents believed hybrid or home workers could be discriminated against or treated differently to employees in the office full-time. “To make it [hybrid working] a success, organisations need to evaluate people, spaces, and technology to ensure everyone has equal experiences,” Clark says. 

“Firstly, businesses need to understand employees’ personas and working styles,” he continues. “Secondly, they need to clearly define their future office by understanding what spaces will be needed and how they will be used. Doing so will allow organisations to better understand their technology requirements and help the workforce become happier and more productive.”

3. Ensure new challenges are seen as a learning process

If employees feel that a challenge is insurmountable, business performance is bound to suffer. So how can managers ensure that their teams have the resilience to see new problems as a learning process?

“The best way to encourage employees to see challenges as a learning process is to first start by building their belief that for every challenge there is a solution, regardless of whether the solution is immediately obvious or not,” says Saira Demmer, CEO of SF Recruitment, a specialist recruiter based in the Midlands. 

To do this, employees need to build a mental bank of mini case studies through constant challenge and discussion with their managers, she argues. “By regularly being encouraged to think creatively and then being reminded of times when they did this successfully, employees will build confidence and the muscle memory of thinking around a problem.” 

Derek Irvine, SVP strategy and consulting at Workhuman, which provides cloud-based HR solutions, believes that employees must also trust in the organisation’s leadership if they’re to overcome challenges. “…when employees see leaders take risks and be open about challenges and mistakes they’ve faced and how they’ve helped them shape their own progression, employees too will be encouraged to view challenges in a different light,” he explains.

4. Build a supportive workplace culture

A supportive workplace culture is a core characteristic of any resilient business. But this doesn’t happen by accident. “Today’s employees want to feel they are developing within the organisation and supported to meet their career goals, so businesses need to clearly lay out career pathways and offer training opportunities at all levels,” says Andy Davies, product design director and HR expert at MHR, which provides software and outsourcing services for HR, talent management, payroll and business intelligence.

Supportive cultures require trust, acceptance, and genuine connection, so that people feel safe to speak up or get involved.

 Access to and active use of HR platforms is also vital to developing and promoting a supportive and engaged workplace culture, he argues. “Their use will help to maintain high levels of engagement and dialogue among teams and between individuals and managers, and give employees the power to spark conversations and organise check-ins themselves.”

Lynda Holt, founder and CEO of development consultancy Health Service 360, adds that: “Supportive cultures require trust, acceptance, and genuine connection, so that people feel safe to speak up or get involved. A great place to start is purpose – this is always a point of connection, it brings people together and enables us to start conversations about where people are at and what support they might need in order to contribute.”

5. Unlock hidden talent across the organisation

Most people have skills they don’t often get the chance to use at work, either due to the limitations of their role or their position within the company’s hierarchy. Sometimes, they may not even be aware of how useful these skills could be to their employer. Similarly, businesses are often unaware of just how much hidden talent they have within the organisation. But there’s a way to change that.

“Holistic, peer-to-peer employee recognition programmes that encourage all employees across an organisation to recognise one another’s work are an essential tool in discovering hidden talent, especially in today’s dispersed hybrid workplace,” says Irvine.

“If everyone can share a ‘job well done’ message or send a monetary reward to a colleague or team over one central, data-driven social platform, then leaders and decision-makers can look at the data and see how teams and individuals are performing,” he adds.

Davies believes that talents need to be mapped before they can be unlocked. “HR departments and line managers need to take the initiative here and build a picture of each employee and their skillset through regular check-ins, as well as competency frameworks which match skills to job roles,” he says. “This will help HR teams to spot true potential in the workforce and identify how to develop it."

Managers lead by example. They are ambassadors for the organisation’s behaviours, values and culture; the person others look to for guidance, support and validation. But great managers don’t come ready-made. They, too, need support to develop their skills and reach their potential – especially in today’s complex and challenging business environment.

Those responsible for selecting and developing managers face some very real challenges of their own. Firstly, they need to understand the skills and behaviours that managers should demonstrate. Secondly, they need a way to benchmark these skills across the organisation’s talent pool. And finally, they need a way to develop specific skills when a skills gap is identified within their organisation.

Of course, the skills that managers need vary across different organisations and sectors. But there are some common ones that all first-time or first-line managers (defined as entry-level managers who work closely with employees) should really possess.

“They need to know how to build empathy and develop inclusivity, for example, as well as promote wellbeing at a time when workplaces are undergoing rapid change. Increasingly, they may need to know how to manage a geographically dispersed team or one that consists of both remote and in-office workers,” says Suzanne Courtney, director of strategic growth, Aon’s Assessment Solutions. None of this is easy, and much of it is new. So those responsible for selecting and developing first-time or first-line managers must ensure that the methods and models they use for doing so reflect these challenges.

External factors like the Covid-19 pandemic and the rapid digitalisation of many companies are reshaping the role too. Internally, this often translates into increasing reliance on technology and data for both internal collaboration and service delivery. As such, those responsible for selecting managers should look for people who can deliver within an agile, fast-paced working environment.

They need to know how to build empathy and develop inclusivity, for example, as well as promote wellbeing at a time when workplaces are undergoing rapid change.

Since the pandemic, the so-called ‘Great Resignation’ has also seen millions of employees leave the workforce or switch jobs. Managers therefore need the ability to engage, develop and retain talent at a time when it’s never been harder to hang onto. It’s also essential that they know how to identify and develop diverse talent, and build resilience across their teams.

They also need to promote wellbeing at a team level and develop sustainable practices that will avoid burnout. There is also a duty of care toward every member of their team, and managers must understand a team’s diverse needs. They also need to look after their own health and wellbeing, and meet their own learning and development goals.

Aon’s Pulse Survey found that managers often don’t feel equipped or ready to deal with many of these challenges. More than half do not feel comfortable managing their team’s wellbeing, for example – which is perhaps not surprising given that only 24% of managers have had some form of training on mental health at work. Meanwhile, 45% of managers don’t feel confident in their ability to develop the skills employees need today. “That’s a serious problem given the rapid changes to the workforce, coupled with the wave of resignations rocking many sectors”, says Avneet Kaur, principal consultant, Aon’s Health, Benefits and Wellbeing Solutions.

Aon’s First-Line Manager model offers a solution to some of these issues. It provides the structure to help organisations and managers in several key areas. Firstly, it highlights the skills managers need to embrace change and encourage a learning mindset in their teams and themselves. Secondly, it supports the development of a management style appropriate in an environment of constant change. And finally, it helps to drive business success by helping first-line or first-time managers develop the resilience and productivity abilities they need to thrive in today’s demanding work environments.

Aon’s Assessment tool, ManagerSelect, presents typical manager scenarios to those aspiring to move into a management position and asks them to make decisions in an interactive simulation. It can also be customised to reflect each organisation’s specific scenarios, language and structure. ManagerGrow, meanwhile, is an interactive simulation program run over a five-to-six week period that focuses on manager leadership development.

The simulation starts by measuring the individual’s learning mindset and readiness to grow as a people manager. The employee then reflects on these insights over the week and participates in development simulations. Chat-based and scenario-centred, it acts as a safe place for managers to try out new ways of dealing with typical management issues, such as having difficult conversations. Aggregated data can be used to track skills gaps and strengths, monitor progress, and determine ROI by linking development outcomes to performance data.

Both tools identify strengths and development needs, including empowerment, drive to lead, inclusive mindset, championing collaboration, and managing hybrid teams. In other words, they can help any business to pinpoint who will succeed in manager roles, as well as helping first-time or first-line managers develop their talents, drive their team’s performance and handle the challenges of today’s changing workplaces.

If you were asked to picture a café full of Scottish rail workers you might conjure a group of hefty, bearded blokes gleefully tucking into runny fried egg rolls. What you might not imagine is a monthly virtual café where female staff come together to discuss their worries about the menopause.

“ScotRail is changing,” says Karen Wallace, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Manager at ScotRail Alliance. “The café is a safe place and a peer-to-peer network, but it also spreads the message throughout the business how debilitating menopause can be. Our people say it has been life-altering.”

Wallace joined ScotRail 18 months ago to spearhead the group’s new Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging strategy. The mission statement – which all senior leaders individually signed up to – is to ‘Make inclusion and diversity how we work every day’. 

It sets out ambitions including improving the company’s gender split – where after an audit it found that 96% of train drivers are currently male – its ethnicity split with 1.3% of workers presently from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnicity background and to tackle its gender pay gap. It also hopes to boost inclusivity through groups for LGBTQ+ employees and issues such as the menopause.

“We want people to feel comfortable and not hide parts of their personality at work,” Wallace says. “But it’s no use putting a shiny policy on our website, we have to put it into practice. The backing of the leadership team has been crucial because these initiatives can’t just come from me.”

The process has involved inclusive leadership training and creating toolkits for managers so they can recognise symptoms of the menopause or signs of domestic violence and provide support. Listening circles have discussed the shortage of ethnic workers and potential solutions. 

Wallace says the ‘successes’ are communicated through channels such as the newsletter the ‘Whistle’. There are also regular review meetings involving senior leadership and staff. “Eighteen months ago, I would never have imagined that our finance team would come to me and ask for LGBTQ+ training so they could better understand the issues their colleagues faced,” she says. “It has been transformational.”

That same word is used by Clarence Dixon, executive sponsor for DE&I in the UK at real estate group CBRE. “I took a photo of our staff when I first joined 8 years ago,” he says. “If I did the same today it would look like night and day thanks to diversity and inclusion.”

The CBRE’s strategy includes creating employee-led networks such as Proud and Reach for BAME workers. “The networks communicate their experiences through seminars and events. They also come up with innovations such as our maternity policy,” explains Dixon. “As an executive sponsor, I take ideas like these to the board every month. The requirements of our staff are ultimately the requirements of our business.”

The CBRE has made inclusive and unconscious bias training programmes mandatory and set targets up to 2025 to boost gender and ethnic minority representation. Each business division is given a scorecard detailing their own gender and ethnic splits with managers in lower-scoring departments urged to reconsider recruitment strategies. “We also want managers to take part in the employee networks. Our staff need to trust them.”

This emotional connection is vital if DE&I initiatives are to work day-to-day, says DE&I specialist Charlotte Sweeney. “This is not about widgets, it is people,” she says. “Managers should listen to their employees’ concerns and be truly comfortable with what they hear. Many a time I have heard leaders give great speeches on DE&I - which have been written for them - and then crumble when it comes to Q and A’s!” She urges managers to consider the decisions they make every day. “Have a look at your diary and when you see a meeting think about how you can be more inclusive and encourage people to speak up,” she says.

Managers should listen to their employees’ concerns and be truly comfortable with what they hear.

Leaders also need to link DE&I to their business strategy. Could a more inclusive workforce boost productivity or more diversity lead to new product ideas? Although often hard to measure, DE&I can improve wellbeing and the bottom line. “Clients will look down on you if you don’t do this,” Dixon says. “You won’t get their business.”

ScotRail’s strategy has boosted employee engagement by 13% and improved job retention and productivity. “People are becoming more confident leading to better creativity,” Karen Wallace says.

A recent Henley Business School report found that businesses that confront inequity and racism record an average revenue 58% higher than those who did not. “Discrimination holds back an organisation. You keep people down and demotivated,” says Dr Naeema Pasha, director of equity, diversity and inclusion. “You should be helping your employees reach their full potential. It is the logical thing to do.”

And the right thing, Karen Wallace adds. “Who doesn’t want to come to work and not feel themselves or be part of a team?” she says. “It is in the bricks of our business now.”

And the cafés of course.