PrintIT Reseller: Has filling vacancies been challenging? Has this driven a change in company culture? Have you had to adjust in pay and benefits, address flexible working, employee well-being, compensation and workplace culture, and how important do you see all of that in terms of being able to attract and retain staff? 01732 759725 42 VOX POP Data from the Labour Force Survey by the Office for National Statistics found that resignations rose sharply from the end of 2020 and significantly exceeded their pre-pandemic levels in the final quarter of 2021. This month, our panel comments on what impact (if any) the great resignation has had on their business The great resignation Amanda Childs, Group HR Director, Kyocera: “How we engage and work with employees has fundamentally altered since the onset of the pandemic. Employees more than ever are now expressing their needs, desires and wants. Like many, we have experienced the increase in resignations and a greater demand for understanding our culture, work practices and benefits much earlier in the onboarding processes. “Employees have seriously awoken to more fully investigating what they are signing up to before they join an organisation, and this is no bad thing. Once accepted practices before the pandemic have become deeply questioned and as such, we too have had to adapt our offering, our culture and our thinking to be able to adapt to the changing needs. “Attracting employees is demanding, however the focus has truly shifted to retention in the last year. When an employee leaves the organisation, so much knowledge, information and connections are lost as a result and this is much tougher to replace than many realise, until it is too late. Since the changes have been showing up, we have implemented a leadership development programme for all of our leadership population, engaging in all practices, including hybrid working and how to adapt to the landscape we find ourselves in. We have also firmly committed to a hybrid practice, advising office-based employees they can work from home for two days per week so they can helpfully meet their changes that have come about in the last few years. “We also have found that we have had to reflect changes in our benefits to help employees feel that their continued service with the organisation is recognised and valued. Interestingly, we have also experienced the ‘returners’ where those that left the organisation during the pandemic are now coming back, because the attractive offer from the new employer, did not actually play out in the way they expected. These are very turbulent times for leaders and employees and there is a need for consistency, clarity and investment to ensure that we continue to retain and keep the talent that we need to grow the organisation.” kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk Phil Jones, Managing Director , Brother UK: “I think the term the ‘big awakening’ captures the mood today – people have realised what it is they do and don’t want – and indeed the great resignation is an impact of this. “At Brother UK 10 per cent of our colleagues have moved on to new employers, interestingly, people were also choosing to take early retirement. That’s not because we’re a bad employer, it’s because post-pandemic, people are making changes in their lives. “We have invested heavily in two areas – our EVP (employee value proposition) and our OVP (organisational value proposition). Our efforts have paid dividends so much so that we have had no problem attracting new people to backfill vacant positions. Amanda Childs
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