Do You Know If Your Best People are Looking for a New Job?

You better believe it! There is a trend across clients and colleagues that the best people are on the move! COVID has disrupted the landscape. Whenever multiple clients experience similar situations, we take note. There is no doubt that COVID has spurred smart clients to hire top talent and top talent to look for new opportunities. In the last few weeks alone, several clients and colleagues have lost valued talent.

Why is Talent Leaving?

From what we’ve observed, there are three key reasons.

  1. COVID inspired reevaluation of life and career – COVID has made people rethink their life. If life is short, are we doing what we want or are we simply going through the motions? This is a tricky one to prevent as they are leaving for the greener pastures of retirement, new industries, 180 degree changes in job functionality and more.
  2. Evolving conditions associated with COVID & the likely future – if virtual is here to stay (at least partially), it changes everything. Commutes are less relevant if we only go into the office 1 or 2 days a week – or month in some cases. Why not move to the virtual dream job?
  3. Frustration of current conditions: Interestingly, #1 and 2 are entirely new conditions from COVID whereas #3 has long been an issue. People leave people; not companies. People also leave frustrating circumstances where they don’t think they’ll have an impact on the future. COVID has inspired less patience in top talent.

What Can You Do?

Talk to your people. It has never been more important. Do NOT postpone a quarterly performance check-in conversation for an urgent Board request. If you aren’t talking with your people, they will start talking to your other potential managers who appreciate their talents.

Create a vision for the future, and make sure each employee knows how he/she fits into that future. Be excited about the opportunities and involve your team in creating that future.

Provide resources, education and training, mentoring, and opportunities for advancement. If you don’t, you will be searching for replacements. Tailor it to each person and his/her desired career path.

The Bottom Line: Keeping your top talent will no longer be easy. Put immediate focus on this critical topic.

Listen to our video on top talent and read our eBook, Future-Proofing Manufacturing & Supply Chain Post COVID-19 to gain additional insights on talent, leadership, HR and more. Please send your feedback, stories and ideas. We believe manufacturers have a unique opportunity for growth and success if they innovate and focus on the opportunities during COVID-19. To achieve this potential, you have to start by keeping your star performers.