Sarah Chavarria, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Delta Dental of California and Affiliates.
Getty
The shift is finally happening—executives and employees are changing the workplace narrative from the Great Resignation to the Great Upgrade.
Coined by the National Economic Council, a shift to the Great Upgrade means organizations need to refocus on improving their people experience. This modified positioning puts a renewed emphasis on retention—an opportunity for organizations to transform themselves to meet the evolving needs of their workforce. It’s about keeping the great talent we already have, attracting new talent to best complete our teams and aligning with the needs of the new way of work.
The past two years changed the world of work forever—and if you’re like me, you’ve read many articles explaining why and how so much has changed. But what’s lacking is any insight into what’s next. What are organizations supposed to do now that their people are reevaluating their relationships with their jobs and looking at what opportunities other companies are offering?
It all comes back to listening—truly giving your people a chance to share their needs, concerns and stories. In doing so, we are able to gain valuable insights and build programs that are effectively tailored to our employees. Here are just a few of the strategies we implemented within the team and company to make sure our employees—as well as leaders—are heard, supported and positioned to succeed.
First, A Shift To Employee-Focused Strategies
A company is only as good as its team members and keeping them engaged is priority number one.
With this in mind, we continually revisit our ways of working and offerings to ensure we are providing a people-focused experience to our employees that matches the current environment. This has resulted in a new holistic approach to benefits, an emphasis on developing leaders and implementing initiatives to support and be more connected with our employees during times of uncertainty.
• Home in on high performers. Ultimately, we want to cultivate a high-performing workforce and ecosystem where employees can achieve their life’s best work. For that reason, we recently updated one of our key performance indicators (KPIs) to reflect this focus. By refining our KPIs to focus on retaining high-performing employees, we are doubling down on our best talent and investing in our people.
• Look at employee well-being through a holistic lens. A big part of an employee’s ability to feel supported is feeling healthy. To help our people reach optimal health, we have changed our focus to holistic well-being versus purely traditional physical and medical benefits. By adopting a more well-rounded approach, you can distribute your benefits over all avenues of wellness and focus on your employees’ physical, mental, financial and social health.
• Help through uncertainty. For over two years, the pandemic has forced us to navigate uncharted territories both at work and in our daily lives. To help team members facing hardships or unexpected life events, consider launching an employee resource fund to provide assistance and financial support. Our employees asked for this benefit and have shared that they are proud and grateful to be able to take care of each other during times of need.
Second, Level Up Your Leaders
In the era of the Great Upgrade, style of leadership has never been more important, given its direct effect on retention. What is expected from leaders now, in 2022, is different than what it used to be.
While strategic perspective and financial acumen remain desired traits in a leader, after the last two years, the ability to connect and listen to your employees has become equally important. Compassionate leadership has finally gained a prominent seat at the table.
• Invest in leadership development. Leadership is learned. Providing leaders with guidance and support for them to be successful should be a top priority for all organizations. Investing in the professional development of your people goes a long way toward helping them become empathetic and inclusive leaders. I recommend providing them with coach-based training and the tools and resources necessary to help them lead their teams and create an open and welcoming culture.
• Maintain a transparent culture. One of the ways we maintain transparency and ensure our leaders are aligned with our organizational strategy is by spending a lot of time building awareness and reinforcing our enterprise-wide goals and our cultural expectations around leadership. That includes focused time helping our teams better understand how their roles play into the bigger picture. The Society for Human Resources (SHRM) emphasizes that, “for leadership development initiatives to be truly effective, they should align with an organization's corporate strategy and offer development opportunities that are tailored to the individual employee.”
• Create opportunities to listen. Developing your emerging leaders is critical to creating a well-led organization. It’s also crucial to make sure leaders are dialed into the current workplace climate. Our executives engage in listening tours and “Ask Me Anything” sessions where employees are able to directly ask questions. We also host regular “Seen and Heard” events to create opportunities for our employees to share their stories and voices.
As the workforce continues to evolve from the Great Resignation to the Great Upgrade, it’s a good time to immerse ourselves back into our organizations and connect with our people to ensure we are inspiring and supporting compassionate leadership and an employee-first culture.
Forbes Human Resources Council is an invitation-only organization for HR executives across all industries. Do I qualify?
