Great resignation! Retaining employees in the face of high remote work demand

The "great resignation" that started last year in the United States—and continues to cripple thousands of organizations today—has now become very much a Canadian problem as well. According to Statistics Canada, Canadian companies are looking to fill 915,000 job vacancies—80% more than in 2019. With lockdowns now behind us, many employers have asked or plan to ask their workers to return to the office. That's creating problems, said Nancy Shapiro, an employment lawyer with Toronto law firm Koskie Minsky LLP. She pointed to a March 2022 study by the non-profit research firm Angus Reid Institute, which found that close to 60% of Canadians currently working from home would look for a new job if they were asked to return to the office. Almost one-quarter said they would quit on the spot. "And in a Cisco Canada survey on hybrid work, 71% said remote work helped with their work-life balance, and 77% said that flexibility in work location and hours would determine if they stay in their jobs," said Shapiro. "And it's not just about work-life balance. Some employees are reporting having lasting effects from COVID and are finding it hard to work through their health issues." Read: Hang on, my employees have kids! What to know about accommodating staff returning from parental leave While medical clinics and pharmacies are less suitable for remote work than other types of businesses, many of their employees are nonetheless seeing the benefits of full-time remote or hybrid work arrangements. Some have experienced these benefits directly during the pandemic while others have watched family members and friends enjoy the short commute from bedroom to home office. One nurse who spoke recently with the Medical Post and who asked that her name not be disclosed, talked about another nurse at work who was refusing to come back to the clinic after months of working from home. "She just wants to work remotely full time," said the nurse. "But how do you do that when you're a nurse?" For employers worried about the Great Resignation, the main question to ask is: what can they do to keep the employees they have and to attract new ones to their clinic or pharmacy? Read: How do you retain your best pharmacy staff? Take a gentle approach "Come back to the office or else!" is not a good look for employers who care about keeping their team intact. In the face of the Great Resignation, it's best to adopt a more gentle and humble approach when asking employees to return to the office, said Shapiro. An important thing to keep in mind is how the shift to remote or hybrid work in the last two-and-a-half years triggered many changes in employees' lives. For example, some may have moved out of the city while others might have given up or lost the childcare they had relied on pre-pandemic. "You can't just expect them to undo their current arrangements," she said. "Instead ask them what they need to come back to the office and offer whatever you can do to help." Find ways to offer work flexibility Before COVID most employers couldn't imagine allowing some, let alone all, workers do their work at home away from the supervision of their managers. Today, employers who have the ability to offer some level of flexibility should consider doing so, said Shapiro. Where possible, build some remote hours into the work week, she suggested. Or offer your team compressed work weeks where they can each work longer hours each day but come in for only four days a week. “Or maybe you need to hire more people who each work less hours a week,” said Shapiro. “But before you do anything, find out what your employees want and are willing to accept.” Read: Practice management: Staff job-sharing tips Sweeten the compensation pot In today’s highly competitive labour market, retaining employees may require you to pony up higher salaries. In addition to raising pay, you may also want to look at offering benefits such as a group health plan, said Shapiro. For employees who will likely continue working from home for some or all of the time, consider providing some kind of home office budget to offset their costs for Internet, work space and other expenses such as hydro. Work on your workplace culture Job ads often try to lure applicants with descriptions of "rewarding careers" and "great workplace cultures." In busy clinics and pharmacies that have become even more overwhelmed by the demands of COVID, employers may feel they don't have the time to dedicate to building happy and welcoming workplaces. "But if you want to keep your employees you have to make an effort," said Shapiro. "Take the time to know your workforce. Ask them what they like and don't like working with you." If you haven't done it yet, set down your commitment to diversity and inclusion in your workplace and put it into action. Invest in training—for yourself and for your employees—in areas such as culture sensitivity and unconscious bias, and review your hiring practices to make sure they align with your diversity and inclusion goals. It's also important to conduct exit interviews with employees who quit or are terminated, she said. These interviews are a great opportunity to gather honest feedback from departing employees, who are more likely to be candid now that they're on their way out. Promote from within first A common complaint about working in a small clinic or pharmacy is the lack of opportunities for advancement. This makes it even more important for employers in these workplace settings to look to their existing staff first before hiring new people for advanced roles, said Shapiro. To help your staff develop their skills to match potential advancement opportunities, it's a good idea to spend part of your employee performance reviews discussing these possible job openings and explaining what skills will be needed for the roles. Where possible, provide support to employees who want to upskill either by subsidizing their education or offering scheduling flexibility that allows them extra time to study. Don't try to retain with legal shackles As you hire new employees today, you may be thinking about how you can ensure they stay with you for the long term. Forget about drawing up a contract requiring that they stay for a certain period—that won't be enforceable, said Shapiro. She also cautioned about including a non-compete clause preventing employees from working for another medical clinic or pharmacy within certain geographic boundaries. "Those are very difficult to put in place and to enforce," she said. "You can't force people to work for you if they no longer want to, and you can't penalize them for resigning." Read: Teaming in the dispensary

Great resignation! Retaining employees in the face of high remote work demand

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