I've just got off the phone from a senior executive in a global company were we were talking about "retention", "diversity", "inclusion", and the great resignation, also known as the big quit.

What is the great resignation?

It is the ongoing trend of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs, from spring 2021 to the present, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The term Great Resignation was likely coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at Mays Business School of Texas A&M University

What are the business issues this senior exec is feeling?

The senior executive was telling me about how the company he works for struggles with getting new talent, that is partly because the skills he is trying to find are hard to obtain, but this is also partly because his company isn't seen as "trendy".

Vs a company like Google, where we all know that if we work there, we get to sit in hammocks and eat jellybeans and have a slide.

I used this as an example at how Google has created this outside "persona" of what it's like to work there.  Of course, it might not but true, but perception is reality. 

But as a hiring manager at Google, you are probably not arguing over an additional 5,000 in base salary and and additional 5 days holiday as the candidate cannot wait to get to the free jelly beans.

But our company is amazing ....

This senior leader was telling me about the diversity programs his company has, he has just hired three people and they are all women.  He was also telling me about the awesome life long learning they have.  I understand that the training budget seems to be infinite.  The training budget in the companies 30 years of existence has never been cut.  Of course lots of budgets in the past have been cut. 

But then he said something was crucial "but nobody outside the company knows this".

I had to agree.

But it doesn't have to be this way

Here at DLA Ignite, we train and coach businesses on how to use social media strategically.  We train and coach all employees; Sales, Human Resources (HR), Procurement, etc etc, on how to talk about their experiences on social.  (We are the only company in the world, who does this!)

If you think about it, your employees and their experiences are your only unique selling point (USP) today.

So empower your employees to talk on social, share their experiences.

Let them talk about your diversity program, let them talk about your great training program, let your employees talk about your life-long learning program.

What will happen?

People will start noticing your business, they will start seeing that your business is the one to work for.

You will start getting people applying for roles.

You will start becoming the employer of choice in your industry and business sector.

Just think about your business getting all the talent ahead of all the other businesses, think about the competitive advantage this gives you. 

And as you are the best place to work, you will also retain your employees.

Great resignation, you won't be impacted by it ...... just empower those employees and quick!