A layoff is unavoidable at times due to economic situations and business needs. It often leads to the HiPos employee’s loss of confidence, resulting in them leaving the organization.
In this blog, we will explore this topic in detail and share strategies on how to prevent your valuable employees from leaving your company.
Current situation
Here’s the snapshot of the current status quo:
Tech and Martech companies have been laying off talent after over-hiring post the pandemic and because of higher inflation leading to lower advertiser/ consumer spending.
Meta, Twitter, Salesforce, Stripe, Amazon and so many more well-known and established martech, fintech, eCommerce, media, and tech companies have been in the news recently as they slash their teams across the globe.
So far in 2022, there have been nearly 140,000 people laid off from various tech companies, according to the tracking site Layoffs. However, tech talent remains in high demand and the wider jobs market remains strong.
Layoffs can have a demoralizing effect on the rest of the team. Research suggests that layoffs and downsizing often prompt an exodus of talent that has been spared and survived the layoffs. Layoffs can lead to a lack of trust in the leadership and the management and in the long term can also lead to a lack of innovation.
Strategies to avoid HiPos from quitting
So what do companies need to do to ensure that the talent that has been retained remains engaged and productive?
Strategy 1 – Stay Interviews
- Companies need to actively address the demoralizing effect on the team culture and the talent, particularly the HiPo talent the company has retained
- This can be through specific tactics like Stay Interviews and culture surveys to better understand and address any feelings of burnout, disengagement or thoughts of leaving
- At the same time, companies need to re-invent to provide deeper meaning and purpose to team members
- Companies need to go deeper today and understand the role of work in a person’s life. Post the pandemic a lot of individuals have realized that life is too short to compromise, that a job is only a means to an end, and unless the job is adding real value to the world, its no big deal to change it.
- Stay interviews can help you identify if your Hi-Pos are demoralized, or feeling burnout because they need to pick up extra work as a result of a smaller team, or are they planning for #QuietQuitting, or are they entertaining thoughts about resigning.
- Furthermore, Stay interviews can help you discover your employees’ reasons for staying and the non-negotiables, customized learning and development plans, and growth opportunities in line with their individual career aspirations.
If you’re looking for Martech and ad tech recruitment, you can get in touch with our sales team.
Strategy 2 – Using Technology
There are today a lot of tools to keep an eye on sentiment within a team so as to intervene when needed. Tools like Culture Amp and other types of sentiment surveys are a great way to keep an eye on the overall sentiment.
Sentiment analysis is a process of determining a set of opinions or beliefs that are related to a specific topic. These tools are highly useful for analyzing an employee’s mindset based on their engagement, motivation, and performance.
Note to companies
Companies must understand the wider context of the world we are living in. Concerns about climate change and income, gender, race, and other types of inequality are increasingly top-of-mind for a lot of individuals.
There is a growing recognition that the private sector has an integral role to play to address these. As a result, companies need to re-invent themselves at a strategic level and authentically commit to a bigger social agenda and then translate that into an individual’s role in an organization.
Only if an individual can see the bigger picture on how their role is adding value not just to the company but to the world are they likely to have the intrinsic motivation to go further than expected, to be truly engaged,w and to deliver on an organization’s goals today.
Anu D’Souza is CEO of Bricoleur Consulting an employee insight consultancy headquartered in Singapore. Anu comes from marketing and advertising having spent many years with companies like Unilever, Ogilvy and BBDO.
Anu has Board level experience in the APAC region and is currently the Marketing Advisor to the Board of womenoffatorda.in, an e-commerce start-up empowering the women of Fatorda in Goa, India. She is a thought leader on leadership for tomorrow, employer and corporate branding. Anu is also the author of ALIGNED Why CEOs need Company Brand Alignment in the age of a Questioning Workforce.
You can reach her at anu@bricoleurconsulting.com.sg or bricoleur.anu@gmail.com
