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by Micheal Jones, PCCA Human Relations Specialist
Much ado has been made over the last year and a half about the so-called “Great Resignation.” In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans changed career paths. Nearly every industry across the country experienced employees leaving their jobs — either for greener (financial) pastures, more flexible schedules or other added perks and benefits. The health care profession was particularly hard hit, with many workers citing pandemic burnout as a reason for making an abrupt shift in their career track.
Whatever the reason, this mass exodus left many employers scratching their heads and trying to make up for the shortfall in staffing. Managers continue the struggle to carry out normal business operations, while human resources teams search far and wide for talent to fill the many vacancies.
Within this struggle, however, is a chance to create something better than what existed before. By focusing on improving the employee experience, employers can position themselves as a post-pandemic destination: a place that values its people, nurtures growth and keeps current on a holistic benefits and compensation strategy that exceeds employee needs. The Great Resignation could prove to be the opportunity of a generation.
As we all begin to regroup, attracting and retaining the right people for our organization should be first on the agenda. This involves getting creative on how you find your people, getting intentional about your culture, getting efficient about your hiring and being thorough in your onboarding processes.
The traditional method of putting a job posting out and hoping for the best no longer works. Finding top talent these days involves establishing a strong social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., and sometimes relying on recruiting firms to help you fill certain roles. This involves an upfront investment but can prove well worth it to quickly find talent.
It’s also important to help candidates understand your organizational culture: who you are, how you do what you do. They need to hear employee testimonials or read stories of those who’ve helped your company grow and develop. It’s also important they see or hear how your business impacts the community.
More specifically, potential employees need to know the “why.” People need to be able to imagine themselves working at your business and how their skills and experience add to the overall value your pharmacy brings to the community. They need to believe that they are not just a cog in a machine, but that the work they do has purpose and meaning.
A compounding pharmacy is uniquely fortunate in that it offers a very compelling “why.” It is deeply tied to personal health and well-being, something that has taken center stage since the pandemic and will continue to figure prominently in the national and global dialogue in the foreseeable future.
Maintaining open channels of feedback is an essential component of fostering a healthy relationship between employer and employee. Consider implementing a 90-day check-in for all new hires. After 90 days, employees are integrated into the company culture and are familiar with their day-to-day duties. These check-ins are an opportunity to find out whether they received the training they need to succeed and whether they’ve been able to establish rapport with their coworkers. The 90-day check-in is a great way to uncover any major issues. Conversely, it’s also a chance to hear when things are going well.
Beyond that initial 90 days, there are critical tenure markers in which people tend to consider leaving organizations. Stay interviews, conducted at 3-year, 5-year and 9-year intervals, are a great tool to hear from ongoing employees and gauge their satisfaction. Stay interviews take the concept of the exit interview, in which an employee who resigned shares why they’ve decided to leave and what could have been done to make them stay — though, unfortunately, usually too late — and turns it on its head. It gives leadership an opportunity to pivot and adjust where needed to ensure that the concerns of high performers are addressed, hopefully influencing them to stay.
Another important component of finding and retaining top talent in 2022 and beyond is regularly completing a compensation and benefits analysis. Look at how the package you offer stacks up against those of your competitors, noting that your competitors are not just those in your industry, but increasingly those in disparate industries in the metro and outlying areas. A lot of those who’ve left their jobs in the last year and a half left for more money. They left for higher base pay and, in some cases, five- or six-figure sign-on bonuses.
Though you may not be able to provide the same base salary and bonus as a Fortune 500 company, you can offer impactful perks that resonate with the kind of people you’re trying to attract and retain. Consider offering service days, additional holidays, a four-day work week or referral incentives. Also consider the monetary and intrinsic value of cross-training and investing in your peoples’ skill sets.
Although many people want more money, even more people are looking for meaning. Connect your people to the mission and vision of what you do and help empower them to add even more value through training and education. Connect them with resources to get them trained above and beyond the scope of their day-to-day responsibilities.
You may have heard the expression that people leave bosses, not companies. Now is a great time to reflect on whether your current leadership is making the right kind of impact. Are they effective? Are they able to lead with empathy even during difficult times? Does your leadership inspire people to rise to the occasion?
If not, this is the perfect time to connect them with resources that help them hone those skills. A lot of the turnover in last two years had been bubbling under; the pandemic and its multitude of stressors drove it to the surface. Many who begrudgingly dealt with toxic leadership in the past are no longer willing to do so. They are looking for leaders who enable them to be their best while simultaneously respecting their needs and dignity as people.
Beyond the Great Resignation, there is hope and opportunity. Opportunity to implement long deferred changes, develop policies and procedures, and employ people who are willing to withstand any challenge on the horizon. Hope that the last couple of years has given us all perspective to see what is valuable and worthwhile, not only professionally but personally.
Many have shifted from thinking of the Great Resignation to the Great Realignment. In many ways, this is our new frontier. A seismic shift occurred in the global workforce that, perhaps, never occurred before. Concepts like flex scheduling and the focus on equity, social responsibility and corporate governance that seemed unattainable are suddenly today’s reality. This realignment gives us a chance to be the boss, the company that we always strove to be. We have an opportunity to help connect our people with purpose. After the turmoil and upheaval we collectively experienced, people are expecting and accepting nothing less.
A version of this article originally appeared in PCCA’s members-only magazine, the Apothagram.