In the year 2000, Hollywood wrote the script (supposedly) on what women wanted in the aptly named “What Women Want” and it involved some serious insights after a brain injury gave Mel Gibson the superpower of listening directly to women’s thoughts.
Whilst the movie was pure fiction and full of (awesome imho) dad jokes, there’s no denying that we’d all sometimes love the power of ESP and to hear what people around us really think or want.
And if you thought that the title of this article was leading to the ruffling some political correctness feathers, I’m sorry to disappoint, I’ll leave those debates to someone far more willing to argue extreme views than I.
It is, in fact, the Post-Covid (P-C) world in which we really need to know what our staff and workforce want in order to keep them happy, healthy and staying with the company.
Covid changed a LOT of things. We all felt a veritable smorgasbord of emotions from fear to relaxation and from grief to renewed gratefulness. Everything in our worlds seemed to change. The way we lived, learned, communicated, connected and of course, the way we worked.
When it came to work, Covid meant that, for most jobs, we literally weren’t allowed to “go to work”. We had to make do with anything from the ironing board to the third bedroom and from the communal family living room to the back deck, in order to establish our new work locations. Meetings were no longer over endless lattes but over (even more endless) Zooms. People created their own flexibility around homeschooling, family, flatmates, caring for relatives and generally trying to keep some semblance of sanity.
And fast forward to today – the Covid years are now behind us and in the P-C world, we’re finding that the adaptability of our human race meant that despite mass misgivings in the beginning, many of us came to enjoy the flexibility that we earned by working from home. We became used to interminable Zoom calls, we understood that our work colleagues may not have our report finished by 5.30pm but because the night hours suited them better, we knew the report would be on our email by 8.30am the next day anyway.
In short, we all had to adapt and, as individual humans, we did that rather well – the mechanisms around us, however, and namely corporations, have not been afforded the same adaptive ease.
Corporates, large institutions, businesses, and government agencies are all finding a raft of P-C challenges but there are two that really stand out; namely attracting and keeping the right staff in the first place and secondly attracting those staff back to the office.
Both of these challenges are fundamentally linked to a more selective workforce and one that demands far more from their employer.
ATTRACTING AND RETAINING STAFF
Now more than ever, attracting the right staff to your organisation and retaining them for the long term is critical.
Not least of all, to mitigate the astounding costs of staff turnover.
- Data from the Work Institute estimates that each lost employee costs the company, on average, one-third of their annual salary.
- Gallup puts the figure even higher, placing the value of a satisfactory replacement employee as equal to one-half to two times the original employee’s salary.
To put this into perspective – the cost of replacing an employee on $100,000 pa salary could be anywhere from $33,000 to $200,000.
In addition to the estimated “hard” cost (ie straight off the bottom line) of employee turnover, there are many intangible costs to consider including, but not limited to:
- Significant reduction in staff morale
- Decreases in productivity whilst new employees get up to speed
- Burnout and stress caused because existing employees are making up the workload
- Time spent onboarding and training new staff
- Loss of institutional knowledge to the organisation at large
Clearly, there are many different factors and nuances that influence whether staff want to stay but there is no denying that the costs of employee turnover are detrimental to all businesses large and small.
In recent years research^ shows a fundamental shift in the reasons for choosing a particular employer or role over another (leaving clues to retention). The study, conducted over a 2-month period and involving almost 12,500 respondents showed that a competitive salary in the P-C world does not even rank in the top 6 reasons why staff would choose to stay with an organisation.
The key motivating factors keeping people in their jobs in the P-C workplace, according to the research, are:
- Meaningfulness of work
- Adequacy of workplace flexibility
- Adequacy of Support for health and wellbeing
- Safety of the workplace environment
- Adequacy of inclusivity and welcomeness of community
- Geographic ties and travel demands.
One very simple factor that is often not taken seriously enough, or worse, entirely overlooked when addressing the key motivating factors to attracting and retaining your ideal workforce is their overall health and wellbeing. Like most things in life, we try to complicate a response when one of the most effective solutions is also the most simple.
So, we ask the simple question: Have you considered the availability of fresh, healthy and convenient food and beverages in your workplace.
Whether through provision of barista quality coffee machines, small compact Micro Markets or large multi modular Micro Market convenience stores, let’s look at several tips for attracting staff to, and retaining staff in, your P-C workplace by keeping them well-fed and nourished and happy.
- Provide Good Coffee
Buying coffee on the way to work at a local cafe or something similar is becoming increasingly expensive, not to mention time-consuming, as one has to stand in queues, park cars and deal with all sorts of logistical issues just to get a cup of coffee.
By offering barista quality coffee in the workplace and subsidising it for your staff, you immediately:
- boost morale
- help your staff save money
- exponentially boost productivity
- reduce downtime through multiple visits to the café during the day for that “caffeine fix”
This kind of benefit is attractive, inexpensive and a win-win for everyone involved. Importantly, it can serve as a motivating factor for staff to stay with your company because they appreciate the convenience, and the luxury afforded them when it comes to coffee.
Provender provide a range of coffee options for your workplace. From commercial capsule machines to one touch vending, there is simply no reason why you couldn’t be providing a coffee solution in your workplace immediately.
- Focus On Health and Wellbeing
By offering healthy food options to your staff, you are promoting their health and well-being, nurturing them, and genuinely valuing their health.
Whether your business is in a remote location, your staff work non-traditional shifts, or you are always wanting “just that little bit more” from your staff, providing healthy, convenient and consistent food and beverage options on-site can be a game changer for staff retention.
When staff feel valued by the company for whom they work, they are more likely to show reciprocal appreciation and commitment towards it.
A Provender GrabNGo Micro Market is a convenience store right there in your workplace. Feed your staff 24/7 with nutritious food and drinks and just watch the smiles.
- Give Back to The Community
Companies that show deep care for the community, the environment and charities are more likely to have staff members who care in return. Organising charitable, environmental or community initiatives that staff can support, especially if it’s done through fun challenges, can be a morale booster and a bonding experience, as well as a source of pride for staff.
These initiatives come in many shapes and sizes. It could be as simple as easy-sort recycling bins in the staff lunchroom or as heartening as supporting a sick child’s family through donating percentages of Micro Market sales to organisations such as Ronald McDonald House Charities.
It is incredible how caring for others adds meaningfulness to even the most challenging of roles and a range of recycling and charitable initiatives are available to you through a Provender GrabNGo Micro Market.
- Think Strategically About Bonuses
Bonuses can come in many shapes and forms. Traditionally bonuses are viewed as a cash reward, but we know that cash is not always the driver to staff retention. In fact, remuneration doesn’t even factor in the top 6 reasons for staying in one’s job according to the aforementioned research. So, isn’t it time, that we started looking laterally to other forms a bonus could take?
Bonuses that subsidise staff meals are very valuable for staff in terms of time spent on preparing meals as well as the cost of the meals themselves. With more media reports every day on the increasing costs of living – it makes sense that work meal subsidies are now seen as a brilliantly popular alternative to bonuses based on outdated KPIs and corporate norms.
In addition to subsidies, meal promotions that offer your team gift cards and other rewards, such as loyalty points that can be accumulated and spent on food and beverages are another form of employee bonus.
Meal subsidies are totally up to you. Whether you’d like to offer them and the amount of those subsidies are entirely up to you. The great news is that all workplace food subsidies are:
- Tax deductible and
- free from FBT
It’s so easy to include A Micro Market In Your Office Work Space
What if we told you that 100% of the solutions discussed above could be achieved through the installation of a Provender GrabNGo Micro Market in your workplace?
FOR FREE
If you have more than 100 people on site each day, your Micro Market is installed free of charge and Provender handle everything.
- We design and install your Micro Market to suit your space and your requirements
- We source the best food and beverage products to suit your workforce and their dietary needs & preferences
- We service, fill, clean and manage your Micro Market on your behalf
It really is as good as it sounds.
With a Provender GrabNGo MicroMarket, you can give your staff what they want, you can achieve what your competitors are struggling to achieve by matching the reasons your employees want to stay with your company with a healthy convenient solution that will cost you nothing more than subsidies you may or may not wish to provide.
Contact Provender today and discuss the range of solutions and start attracting and retaining more staff today.
^Source: McKinsey’s 2022 Great Attrition, Great Attraction 2.0 global survey conducted between Feb 2022 and Apr 2022 (n=12,378)