After The Great Resignation in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic and the huge wave of Baby-boomers retirement, pressure was put on companies. Till now, the war of talent is still ongoing in the time on the edge of various crisis. Company centered strategy is shifting to people centered. What should we do?



The war for Talent is something that many companies around the globe have faced over more than two decades. This phenomenon coined by Steven Hankin of McKinsey & Company in 1997 is still ongoing, more challenging than ever. It simply refers to an increasingly competitive landscape for recruiting and retaining talented employees.

The Great Resignation in addition is an ongoing economic trend in which employees have voluntarily resigned from their jobs in early 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the most cited reasons for resigning include wage stagnation is the long-lasting job dissatisfaction.

Here we could also add depopulation in some Western countries, big gap between demand and supply in critical competencies and huge wave of Baby-boomers retirement, big uncertainty in the world with conflicts and energy crisis, all of that indeed put the pressure on companies to Re-think the People strategy.

So, the million question is which driving factor is the most important enabler for companies to attract and retain people? There is no general recipe and no copy-paste strategy. Instead, look deeper into your people analytics, needs and behaviours. You will find the answer BUT I would dare to emphasize that psychological safety is taking more and more place among employees as the most critical one. By empowering Employeeship with psychological safety in the ground companies can gain both in terms of individual but also team performance. Research and survey are showing that innovation as a competitive advantage is possible if a company has people with high motivation and strong feeling of belonging. How could the way to empowered Employeeship look like:

"Empowered Employeeship leads to usage of full potential a company possess in its people"

1. Create a Culture of Care where people feel comfortable to admit, share and learn from failures. Companies need to have strong leadership commitment and empower its employees to bring even difficult topics to the table and discuss. Care from psychological perspective includes continues learning and development in all aspects. Care is very much about listening and understanding, supporting and coaching in the way that opens up for new ways of thinking and managing things.

2. Develop a Culture where ownership and responsibility in the organization is strong linked to each and one of the employees. If the employee is rather a partner than a subordinate than the individual contribution and feeling of personal value will be higher. This employee will give a company more value back because it will feel respected, acknowledged and empowered. This in turn will even strengthen company´s leaders and most probably lead the company to a higher maturity level. The better people the better business. At the end, all business problems are people problems. Therefore make your people accountable, responsible and put the hat of ownership on top of their heads. Just to mention, Employeeship is a philosophy adopted notably in Sweden where the hierarchy is abandoned. And it gives great companies, brands and results!

3. When having 1 and 2 in place then the most natural part is to work further with Inclusion. You can also say that companies need to develop a Sense of Coherence where three parts are important: a) the employee needs to feel included in an environment that is understandable and purposeful; b) the employee needs to have resources and conditions that makes the work possible and manageable; and c) the work that the person is expected to deliver and perform need to be part of the bigger picture and the employee needs to understand that. Just sitting in front of the computer day in and day out, delivering for example drawings of calculations will not give meaning long term. But if you put these deliveries into the bigger context by showing where this piece of a puzzle is and how it is connected to other pieces will most probably lead to higher satisfaction and retention rates, loyalty, performance and for certain create strong attractiveness as well.

Empowered Employeeship leads to usage of full potential a company possess in its people. We all have individual responsibility to contribute to a culture where other people feel comfortable. Just start with yourself and how you would like to be treated. Clear direction from top management and strong commitment from all employees will make this journey possible.

SOURCE ManageHR