The Great Stay – What does it mean and why should you care?

NBC News recently posted an article by Rob Wile (https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/job-market-right-now-the-great-stay-layoffs-and-resignations-decline-rcna142220 ) where, in it, he discusses another new employment term, the Great Stay.  Though a bit ominous sounding, it essentially means the market is seeing much fewer resignations, which I’m sure we all appreciate given the turbulent hiring market we’ve just come from. However, when you add in these continued hiring challenge of historically low unemployment, month over month of job growth and job openings well above pre-pandemic levels; it also means that retaining talent has now become critical to meeting business goals.

From a residual impact to the business, losing talent and then not being able to quickly replace the lose, impacts the continuity and stability of the sales flow, customer satisfaction, knowledge retention, extra recruiting/hiring costs (recruiting and attraction tools can be expensive and time consuming), lost productivity from the gaps and lost efficiency after hiring new people.  Overall, investing in employee retention is not only beneficial for individual employees but also critical for achieving broader business goals and maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

So how do you build a culture of tenure and retention? Mr. Jay Johnson, CEO of Behavioral Elements recently spoke at the D. Business Culture event on February 28th at the Detroit Godfrey and shared these 4 Drivers of employee motivation that your team can and should focus on to ensure retention:

  • Drive for connection – Feeling connected to the company, its mission, and the entire team. People look for this in all aspects of their lives, but specifically with their job where they’re spending the majority of their time.
  • Building Wins – Wins make employees feel successful and purposeful, even if they are just small win along the way to the company’s overall success. Make work meaningful.
  • Establishing Safety – when people feel safe; safe to be themselves, safe from instability, etc., it is proven they are so much more productive and engaged.
  • Fostering Growth – Growth can come in various forms; learning opportunities, job progression, increased compensation opportunities/process, committees. This provides people with a sense that they have opportunities and are not stuck in the same job for the rest of their lives.

Building a culture of tenure and retention is a never-ending task. At Apex, we understand the challenges that arise with the changing landscape of employment. We take a consultative approach to understand your unique business needs and provide resources and knowledge to help support you during the Great Stay. Contact us today to learn more about how we can arm you with the intel you need to support your business and hiring needs.

Jen Gavin

CEO & Founder