This week many of us find ourselves doing things we only do once a year: pulling a turkey out of the freezer, buying evaporated milk (turns out, this is in homemade pumpkin pie), and sharing what we are thankful for.
Our gatherings will look a little different this year, but many of your employees will connect with family and visit with old friends over the next month. Amid sharing stories of how they are navigating the pandemic, they will also reflect on how you and your organization treated them throughout the year. They will also naturally start compare their experiences to their friends'.
Will your employees find themselves thankful that they work for you, or will they find themselves wishing they worked somewhere else?
Imagine this... Susan is having a virtual happy hour with her friend John from college about how her company sent a pulse survey every month to check in with all of the employees. Then, they tailored their communication efforts around the most pressing issues. Susan always knew where the company stood and what the top priorities were. John, on the other hand, would only hear what his company was up to when he heard about the layoffs and when his supervisor occasionally visited his jobsite. Over the past several months, he kept his head down and just tried to finish his project so he wouldn't be in the next lay off.
Who works for you... Susan or John?
Susan is thankful to work for such a great organization and is looking forward to 2021. Her company invested in creating a magnetic employee experience - one that brings great people in and keeps them with the organization. John is thankful to have a job, but just sent his resume to Susan.
If you find yourself thinking that you have more Johns than Susans at your company, it is not too late to make a change, but it is time to take action.
Over the next few weeks:
Find opportunities to talk with your employees one-on-one and ask how they are doing
Send a year-end communication out to your employees reflecting on 2020 and the plan for early 2021
Plan for a pulse survey in January