A New Cutting-Edge Employee Benefit
In a previous article I wrote last summer, I discussed how remote work was a great solution for employers to address employees’ needs for more freedom and autonomy.
It is now crystal clear that most employees are not interested in returning to the office on a full-time basis and want remote working options.
In light of this growing desire to work remotely AND the fierce competition for attracting and retaining top talent, company leaders need to get creative and think outside-the-box about the benefits they’re offering their employees.
Not new but increasingly more important to solve
From my 20 years of experience managing teams in the corporate world, I can tell you that employee desire to work from home or work from anywhere is not new.
The COVID-19 pandemic did not cause this sentiment… It existed for many years prior, on a varying spectrum of acceptance depending on the company.
Over the years, I’ve heard many interesting excuses for direct reports needing to work from home. I always thought of them as adult versions of: “the dog ate my homework.”
It’s safe to say, prior to the pandemic, there was a growing desire among employees to work remotely, and the pandemic proved how effective and desirable the arrangement could be.
After two years of forced remote work, it turns out the majority of employees have actually fallen in love with the arrangement – at least on a part-time basis.
Now, employers face a growing challenge in light of this strong employee sentiment but there’s an elephant in the room…
There is a (sometimes subtle) standoff happening between the employers calling their employees back into the office (like it was pre-pandemic) and the employees who are pushing back because they don’t want to go back to the office.
Many observers believe this is the underlying reason for the mass exodus of employees from their employers – often dubbed “The Great Resignation.”
Last summer, the Delta variant caused many employers to delay their Return-to-Office (RTO) mandates, but now with Omicron waning, employer RTO mandates are re-surfacing. These renewed directives are re-igniting the RTO stalemate between employers and employees.
Clearly, The Great Resignation was not just a 2021 thing… It’s continuing fast and furiously in 2022 as well!
Employee sentiment
Here are 5 key findings from a survey done in late 2021 by Workvivo to evaluate employee and employer sentiment:
- 60% of employees said they planned to leave their job in the next 12 months.
- 90% of HR leaders believe they appreciate and recognize employees for their work while more than 1 in 3 employees do not believe their employer truly values or appreciates their work.
- Over 60% of employees said a company that appreciates and recognizes their work would help them stay longer.
- Almost 50% of employees said they’re less happy in their jobs than last year while 2 in 3 HR leaders believe their workplace culture is better compared to last year.
- 2 in 3 said they would move jobs for a minor salary increase of 5-10%, illustrating a lack of loyalty and stickiness among employees today.
If you run a business or lead an HR department, you should be losing sleep over these kinds of statistics.
Can you fathom losing 60% of your talent in one year?!?
It’s clearly time to wake up and tackle this issue head-on.
The high cost of employee turnover
In addition to these mind-boggling statistics, the other major consideration is the extraordinary cost of employee turnover.
Employers sacrifice TIME, MONEY, and RESOURCES every time they experience employee turnover. This translates into reduced profitability, productivity, company culture, and employee morale.
It is hard to overstate the total expense and impact to your organization when you have to recruit, hire, and on-board new employees.
Therefore, it behooves companies to minimize turnover – especially turnover of your top talent!
While the high cost of turnover existed pre-pandemic, The Great Resignation is adding fuel to the fire.
Companies that do not take action to mitigate employee turnover are doomed to fail.
Capture the attention of the best & brightest talent
It’s fair to say that free food, foosball tables, and napping pods are not enough to keep employees loyal anymore.
Organizations need to be creative, empathetic, and embrace new and innovative ways to attract and retain top talent.
It’s an extremely competitive job market out there.
Employers need to consider two things:
- Doing everything in their power to AVOID losing 60% of their staff over the next year, and
- Using this opportunity to snatch up the valuable talent leaving other, less progressive companies.
If you want your company on the cutting edge of human resources innovation, offer your employees something ingenious and creative to set you apart from the pack.
How about offering a company-sponsored remote working trip?
Hypothetical example
Imagine you are the head of HR and want the world to know your organization is innovative and truly cares about employees’ wellbeing.
Companies like HubSpot are already leading the charge. They recently announced that all employees can work from anywhere for 90 days each year.
Do you want to implement something cutting-edge and amazing too?
If so, bring together your Executive, HR, and Global Mobility leaders along with travel experts who understand your corporate needs and goals.
Together, you can develop your own remote working travel packages to offer for your employees. Your offering is totally customizable for your unique situation and goals with respect to cost, frequency, eligibility, and logistics.
Offering company-sponsored remote working trips as an employment benefit would be an incredible way to retain happy and loyal employees. It would also differentiate you from other, less innovative companies.
Here are a few simple examples but there are many different ways you could structure such offerings:
- Similar to annual allotments of Paid Time Off, offer each employee a 1-month, company-paid remote working trip each year. This offer could include airfare, accommodations, coworking space, airport transfers, and cellular service at pre-selected destinations around the world.
- Instead of offering these trips to all employees, use them as rewards or incentives for your top performers.
- Off remote working trips as an innovative way for teams and/or groups to work on very specific and focused projects or for team-building purposes.
If you’re interested in learning more about how your organization could offer customizable remote working packages for your employees, please connect with me directly at kristie@executiveremoteworker.com or on LinkedIn here.
