05/10/2022

To Attract and Retain Employees, Focus on Purpose

Focusing on this and ensuring staff buy-in will help attract and retain staff

Read an article on workplaces or talk to any expert on the subject, and you will find a wealth of advice about retaining employees. We constantly hear about the Great Resignation and a fed-up workforce. The advice usually instructs leaders to let employees choose their own hours, accommodate their personal needs, pay them more, help them deal with family issues, offer unlimited vacation, and dear God, yes, let them work from home.

What all this well-intended advice lacks is an appreciation for why employees come to work in the first place. People need a purpose, a cause, a team they care about, an adversary to defeat. If you have these in place, your employees will care very little about the trappings of the modern workplace.

The Great Resignation is not about benefits. If your employees are leaving, your reason for being is broken. This is not the employee’s fault. It is your fault as a leader. You must figure out what you are fighting for, how you can really motivate your people, and what you can do to show them a guiding star.

Please select this link to read the complete article from ASAE's Center for Association Leadership.