Why Companies Must Go the Extra Mile to Keep Their Best Employees

Despite the implications of the ongoing “Great Resignation,” there is plenty a proactive company can do to win over sought-after talent. At the PANGEO Conference on Wednesday, Danny Singh, Vice President of Global Outbound at G-P, outlined some best practices that have served his company well in a disruptive era.

The Great Resignation is not slowing down.

A recent survey by Willis Tower Watson found that 61 percent of employers find it hard to retain talent.  

In the past, spikes in voluntary resignation often signaled competition for talent. However, the motivation behind today’s resignations is entirely different. Singh, who has decades of experience building high-performing multicultural sales organizations, said the modern worker would readily leave if conditions are not to their liking.    

“Many have been working in extreme circumstances for extended periods and have been unable to find an adequate balance between work and life, so they choose life until they absolutely need to go back. But it isn’t inevitable that your employees will depart in droves.”  

Start with onboarding.

Recent workplace intelligence research has emphasized the value of flexible work policies, suggesting that the absence of such a policy has been highly instrumental in the wave of resignations. But Singh said there is more to it than offering remote or hybrid work options.   

He currently leads a team of 100 sales professionals dispersed worldwide and explained how he manages the associated challenges with a well-defined remote work policy, which starts with a positive onboarding experience.   

 “As part of onboarding, new team members must meet their respective managers, right up to the highest levels, to maintain transparency. At G-P, we also provide clear metrics and goals for the initial ramp-up period.”   

Improve retention with strategic practices.

 Singh said G-P is a big believer in clarity around team and individual goals.   

“Be clear about what you are trying to accomplish with your team. For example, for sales, are you trying to create a new channel to generate new leads? Is your goal to more effectively qualify more leads flowing in from marketing? Are you prospecting your customer base to identify expansion opportunities?”   

However, setting realistic goals is an essential aspect of motivation, engagement, and retention. For the sales team under Singh’s direction, this involves ensuring sales targets are not too high or extended in the sales funnel. The preference at G-P is to choose a mix of attended meetings, sales accepted leads, and pipeline creation targets to keep the team focused and accountable. 

Equally crucial is career path support. Build an organization chart that clearly outlines job responsibilities across the company – both managers and employees can track their performance by mapping out each member’s career path during onboarding and performance reviews using short- and long-term goals as data points.   

Offer benefits that really land.

It’s no secret that standard benefits are no longer working when it comes to attracting today’s top talent. Singh explained how G-P has responded to this by offering benefits like employee discounts, financial advice, flexible time off, and free time for volunteering activities. His team also benefits from quarterly business development summits where everyone comes together for training, coaching workshops, and team-building activities. A recent internal Voice survey backs up the effectiveness of such initiatives.   

“The data has shown an increase in performance from the follow-on to summits. It’s about building trust and relationships and fostering an environment that allows employees to flourish and reach their full potential,” concluded Singh.  

While many employers are struggling to attract and retain talent, there are plenty of proactive ways to foster an environment that employees will want to join and remain a part of — the answer lies in a combination of quality onboarding, flexibility, training, career guidance, realistic target setting, and market-leading compensation and benefits. 

– 

Learn more about PANGEO, the Largest Global Employment Conference in the World, here.  

Check out our Agenda, meet our Speakers, and our Sponsors.  

An event by G-P. Global Made Possible