It's well-documented that Covid-19 altered the employee experience in every industry. Focus shifted from the aspirational aspects of work—like getting ahead and career fulfillment—to basic needs like mental health, safety, security, belonging, financial planning, and wellness. High turnover rates signal that employees are searching for a workplace which meets these fundamental needs.
Some say this isn't a Great Resignation, but a Great Reprioritization. Nevertheless, traditional office-based functions are seeing annualized turnover rates in the range of 10 to 15 percent, and front-line roles report up to 80 to 140 percent annualized attrition rates, according to Gartner.
To top it off, the emergence of the omicron Covid variant was another wake-up call that pulled workers back into the eye of the storm, a reminder of the risks that front-line workers continue to face at onsite work locations.
People are rethinking how they want to spend their time and what they want out of their jobs and careers. In fact, 65 percent of employees say the pandemic has made them evaluate their relationship with work.
What does this mean? I believe it means that in the next 10 years companies will be measured by the way they treat their workers—it will be the decade of the employee.
Streamline the Employee Experience
In the decade of the employee, feedback is essential. Employers have shifted from asking what they can get from employees to asking what they can do to support employees and their families, by posing questions like "Do the compensation, benefits, and culture match what I want in a socially responsible company?"
The employee experience is a key component of this. The average Fortune 500 company uses 50 to 150 different technology platforms and service providers to deliver a range of human capital solutions—including benefits, payroll, talent management, and HR services. This diversity of platforms places a burden on employees, who may have to navigate 15 different systems to make 15 different decisions.
Less than half of U.S. employees positively perceive their overall well-being, which represents a significant decline compared with early 2020, according to Alight's 2021 Employee Wellbeing Mindset Study. This decline is an opportunity for companies to re-evaluate their work strategy for the future and use this time as a point of transition for the employee experience.
As companies are grappling with return-to-office plans and all they entail, like implementing vaccine and/or masking requirements, the world of benefits and regulation has never been more complex. The pandemic prompted much-needed innovation, spurring investment in benefits like virtual counseling and caregiver support. These are great tools—when employees use them.
HR organizations are taking a holistic approach to well-being, offering resources that promote physical (80%), financial (67%), and emotional (87%) well-being. However, Gartner reports few employees (nearly 50% less than the average offer rate) are using those benefits. After salaries, benefits are typically the second-biggest cost for a company, and spending on benefits increases between 6 percent and 20 percent every single year. Yet often it's the cost most executives understand the least because it is so mired in complexity.
Identify Areas for Improvement
Asking the right questions can help corporate leaders approach some of their biggest workforce challenges, educate their stakeholders, and use data to better understand the enablers and barriers to employees' health, wealth, and overall well-being.
For example, Alight's 2022 Hot Topics in Retirement & Financial Wellbeing report found that 7 in 10 employers are creating or implementing a financial well-being strategy. Of those, 83 percent intend to include diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in those programs in order to educate their employees and increase utilization of financial benefits. They're doing things like reviewing communication materials with an eye toward DE&I, measuring financial wellness by different employee segments, and leveraging employee resource groups to discuss retirement and financial well-being topics.
The relationship between mental, physical, and financial health is symbiotic. When one is off, all other areas are impacted. Now that focus on well-being is the norm, HR leaders are looking for ways to enhance the tools and resources available to their workers.
The Great Reprioritization is not a death sentence. It's a chance for corporate leaders to continue to refine the employee experience and develop a holistic approach to benefits and well-being in preparation for the decade of the employee.
From: BenefitsPRO
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