The employer of choice dilemma

AN ASPIRATIONAL GOAL OR A KEY WORKFORCE STRATEGY?

As Australia emerges from its self-imposed COVID bunker, it is clear there will be an ongoing hangover from the pandemic far beyond vaccination levels and infection rates.

Securing the right employees is a burning issue and will continue until at least 2024. Approximately 10 per cent of the population is likely to remain unvaccinated and therefore unable to work in sectors like aged care. This talent shortage is further complicated by the reduced migration and availability of workers.

Organisations should remind themselves the best employee they have is often the one they have today. There is little value in hiring new employees if current employees are going out the back door as quickly as they are recruiting them.

So how can organisations retain employees? Is it about becoming an ‘employer of choice’?

The reality is Australia has an ageing population and the future of employment has become more complicated. Aged care organisations need to acknowledge generational diversity and strategically respond.

Here are the top four things organisations can do to attract and retain workforce talent.

1. Understand what is driving employee absence in your

organisation.

The impact of unplanned absence on an organisation can be profound, particularly when replacement staff are required to ensure staff ratios are maintained. Lockton data reveals that the cost of workers’ compensation insurance can be less than 10 per cent of the total cost of employee absence. This begs the question: why do organisations have a plan to manage workers’ compensation liabilities but not general absence? Performing a deep dive on the cost of absence can help identify trends that organisations can use to increase workforce participation rates and drive employee engagement.

2. Gain a more in-depth understanding of the reasons for

employee turnover.

Some level of employee turnover can be a positive thing. However when an organisation loses key staff it needs to keep, it’s important to understand why this is happening. Lockton recently provided a service to an aged care provider which identified their employee exit interviews failed to identify it was specifically staff under the age of 40 who were leaving. This is a cohort of staff they needed to keep. The outcome led to the need for a

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more in-depth analysis of culture to really understand the impact on retention.

3. Provide support to staff to return to work when ill or injured, regardless of whether the incident occurred at work.

Life happens. As our employee base ages, the recovery time from injury or illness can take longer. It makes good business sense to accommodate early return to work wherever possible. Employing the same tactics as applied to any work-related injury to employee injury that occurred outside of work will reduce the risk of aggravation and aid in early return to work or indeed recovery, reducing the cost of illness or injury.

4. Consider an Employee Benefits structure that is difficult for employees to walk away from.

Employees now have new needs that have to be met along their employment journey. Employees are slowly reconciling themselves to work longer than historically expected.

Rather than retiring at a set age (traditionally 65 years old), employees may now still be working into their 70s or 80s. Younger employees can expect to enjoy a longer period of old age and consequently will have to work longer in order to fund retirement. It may not be practicable to rely on superannuation contributions and a Government Aged Pension to fund retirement.

As employees have to entertain a 50 or 60 year working life, focus should be on employee benefits which can be accessed earlier than superannuation. Creating a framework which encourages and supports employees to manage their health and finances will be seen as an attractive offering to new and existing staff.

As we emerge from COVID-19, now is the time to take a fresh look at an employer’s cost of absence, the Employee Benefits framework in place and any HR processes and insurance program strategies to meet the most pressing needs of employees as we head into 2022.

Morag Fitzsimons is Manager - Employee Care, Lockton. For more information visit www.global.lockton.com/au/en

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