…by Marco Colaiacovo, Sr. Director Work@Home North America
We have all heard and have bemoaned the labor market difficulties in today’s world. Things like ‘ghosting’ are new to all of us and we are struggling to understand why the job of today is not as well-received as the same job of yesterday. The Great Resignation is in fact the Great Revolution, the resignations occur because we, as business owners, are not evolving to meet the labor market Revolution; the new labor market psyche; the new labor market profile.
Those organizations that are struggling are the organizations that are still Selling a Job!!!
Captain Obvious statement alert, the world of work has changed forever! Was this solely due to Covid? Not necessarily but Covid certainly expedited the change.
- In a traditional work environment, flexibility was just a word, leadership asked employees to travel to the B&M location at the designated time imposed by an organization and sit in the designated seat until their designated break and lunchtimes. It was the employee’s responsibility to arrange their life/family around the work schedule and obligations.
- Enter Covid, moving all employees home, breaking the mundane routine described above. Opening the eyes of all that YES I can be productive while I gain a degree of freedom and flexibility. I can spend more time with family, I can spend more time outside because I am not in transit to and from work
Getting back to the original question ‘What are you selling?’, if your Value proposition is strictly about the role/responsibility of a job, you are Selling a Job just like the thousands of other organizations. But if your value proposition talks to things like flexibility in scheduling; ability to work hybrid at the very least; work perks to promote health and family life, then you are Selling an Experience! It’s the experience that attracts and retains employees today, the revolution was caused because employees were thrust into a new environment that by the very nature of it, promotes the experience. Guess what, they LOVED it and were 100% willing to resign from any organization that did not promote this. There is your Great Resignation!
Stop selling a job, your organization is sitting in a long queue with other organizations selling the exact same thing. Be innovative, and enhance your value proposition to include the elements most near and dear to employees. Stop doing the same thing and expecting different results. Stop selling a job, the competition is too intense to successfully hire and retain using this methodology.