If you think mental health issues and other issues like alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc. have not impacted your workforce…you are the one who is crazy!!! People are more stressed than ever and are finding non-medical ways to address the issues. Most of those are not positive. This employee retention speaker and employee retention trainer have seen this situation with several clients. When people are struggling, they often quit thinking things will be better in another organization or they become dysfunctional themselves and they need to be dealt with. If not addressed, this can lead to lost productivity, quality, etc. which then eventually MUST BE addressed by the employer. These people also run a high risk of contributing to employee turnover in your organization. Don’t lose hope…there are ways to proactively address this problem before things spin out of control.
The key way to be proactive is to get visible, listen to what your employees are saying, and interact with them regularly. This recruitment expert has seen many leaders withdraw during the pandemic and remain withdrawn as we have emerged from it. Now is the time to engage with your employees. This is both in-person and virtually. Depending on your environment, you need to be “strolling” through your department and chatting with your people on an ongoing basis. If it’s virtual, you need to call or do Zoom or Teams calls with them regularly to take the pulse of your employees. This is a lot of work. However, it is vital to your people’s well-being to be engaged with their supervisor. When engaging with your people you need to look for behavior changes or changes in work habits. These indicators may be a sign something is going on. When something is going on, you need to have a means to address it.
The means to address the issues is getting them to your EAP (Employee Assistance Program). If you don’t have one…GET ONE! Having an EAP is part of the C.R.A.P. Philosophy. (Caring, Respect, Appreciation and Praise) If your EAP is not functioning as it should, have them address the issues or get a new EAP. Another failing this employee retention expert has seen is that supervisors have never been trained about the EAP, so they have no idea what indicators to look for and don’t even know the EAP exists and what their role is in the process. The list of indicators is many and supervisors need to know them so they will know them when they see them.
When you get visible, listen, and engage your employees you will quickly begin to see some of the issues. When you do, that’s when your EAP comes into play. The indicators are many. You just have to know what you’re looking for and be prepared to address them. Employee issues are everywhere. Addressing these issues will show you care and people will see the organization in a more positive light. This will further improve your employee retention instead of ignoring indicators and driving higher employee turnover. When it comes down to it…the first step is to look for the indicators!
Would you like a list of indicators? If you are an HR leader, General Manager or an owner of an organization email me at jeff@humanassetmgt.com with the word “Checklist” in the title line and I will send you the list.
