Finding a great employee is a challenge and it costs a lot of money. But once found, he or she is not bound forever with the company. So how to keep one on board for as long as possible?
In 1997 the McKinsey and Company coined the term “war for talents” – the ongoing struggle to find and retain skilled professionals. The term was further popularized by the book of the same name, which was describing the new HR landscape – one that was actually to explode due to the rising demand for narrowly-specialized experts in growing tech fields.
But the same challenges with retaining the top talents are to be seen in every company – from warehouses to tech-oriented startups. According to SHRM estimations, up to 41 million workers will have voluntarily left their jobs in 2020.
For over 22% of them, the main driver was career development. The second most popular reason (pointed by over 12% of employees) was the work-life balance issues. And that’s where the leave management comes as a problem-solver.
The work-life balance issues mentioned above are usually connected with a repetitive and hard-to-avoid set of problems with vacation. Actually, there is even a vacation-shaming culture, where employees are actively discouraged to take days off.
According to Forbes, up to 47% of US employees are not using their days off – for whatever reasons, but vacation-shaming and an unclear day off policy can be one of the major factors contributing. Keeping employees stressed and exhausted is one of the fastest trips to make them leave.
Using the leave management software in pair with a transparent leave management policy can do wonders when it comes to keeping employees on board.
People leave due to the lack of work-life balance and burnout is the pinnacle of it. When one starts to hate his or her job, it is high time to abandon the place.
The problem is only to rise, considering the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, where up to 75% of employees are facing burnout.
In fact, taking days off is the best way to tackle burnout, and relief from day-to-day work stresses has been proven (in a Psychology and Health article) to reduce the risk of burnout immediately after the break.
With a leave management system and policy, companies can tackle burnout and vacation shaming more effectively.
Considering the problem mentioned above – the main problem with vacation shaming is a lack of transparency. Formally, employees do have a right to take a leave, yet there is no clear declaration that there is no problem with that.
Also, vacation shaming is based on fear and peer-pressure. Having a clean sheet with planned vacations of all team members is a great way to ensure everybody is taking his or her time off.
Or, nobody does so. And this is a problem that would have been unnoticed without the system. Thus, transparency is a key aspect in battling staff turnover.
Not all vacation-related issues are due to intentional building an unfriendly working environment. Sometimes it is about a human mistake – the manager loses the request for days off or forgets about them.
When using a leave management system, the risk of human error interfering with the leave process is significantly reduced.
Also, employees get a clear view about their vacation, so they can react swiftly to any problem regarding their leave – so the situation where there is a long-waiting request and the employee has no information regarding the status of it becomes the problem of the past.
Apart from delivering transparency, the clear statement that taking days off is OK boosts all other aspects of work-life balance. More sophisticated leave management systems are usually paired with a clock in clock out systems.
Having a clear policy regarding working hours and leaves encourages employees to find more flexible ways to deal with their needs – for example going for a gym or yoga class in the middle of working hours only to deliver their duties later, in the evening.
Early birds can do their job in the hours other employees consider inhuman to enjoy the luxury of ending their job earlier – because why not?
All the aspects mentioned above – encouraging employees to take leave days and giving them more freedom to shape their working time, delivers a more friendly culture in the company.
According to the LinkedIn study, the number of employers offering more flexible working hours has risen by over 78% since 2016. Also, up to 67% of global CEOs agree that culture and values are going to be more important than a paycheck.
So it is a good strategy to deliver these before the employees leave to find these qualities somewhere else.
Apparently, there are numerous reasons why employees leave, yet all of them share a common core – being frustrated and overworked. Taking a day (or two, or thirty, depending on the needs) is the first step to tackle the issue, and delivering a platform that supports the process is one of the simplest ways to keep the employees on board.
If you wish to talk more about the ways leave management can transform your company into a better place to work and reduce worker turnover, don’t hesitate to contact us now!
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