Make your business a workplace of choice

SEVERAL recent surveys by reputable organisations have identified a growing malaise in the Australian workforce that should alarm bosses everywhere, particularly in Western Australia.

A survey of more than 900 employees released this year found 95 per cent of Australian employees were keeping their eyes open for a new job, with 73 per cent saying they were actively searching for a new employer.

Another survey found two-thirds of Australian employees were at risk of resigning within the next 12 months, while 64 per cent said they felt disengaged from their current employer.

And last May, Leadership Management Australia reported that one in six Australian workers had applied for a new job in the past six months – an increase of 135 per cent from the previous year.

This is not good news for WA’s mining and resources sector, currently gearing up for the latest boom, as company bosses confront the thorny question of how to retain skilled employees and prevent them being poached by rivals.

It is interesting to note that the Great Places to Work Institute, a global organisation that undertakes annual studies of workplaces, did not nominate a single company headquartered in WA among its most recent top 50 list of best Australian employers.

Everyone is talking about staff retention again, but they are not doing much about it except throwing more money at it by increasing salaries.

People leave managers, not companies, so managers need to find new ways of retaining employees – one important reason being that if a skilled truck driver resigns, it costs the company around $150,000 to train another driver, so that affects the bottom line.

It has been proven time and again that it is not all about money – that’s obviously an inducement – but the key is to create a workplace of choice where employees trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the camaraderie of the people they work with.

It is important to refocus people’s minds on what is really important in their lives by having a health and fitness program at work or giving incentives to ensure employees feel well – both physically and mentally.

Corporates and government bodies are demanding a lot more wellness courses these days, which are designed to tackle stress management and work-life balance.

More and more organisations are becoming more hands-on with their employees by offering such perks as massage, gym memberships and walking groups at lunchtime.

Mapping out a career path for employees is also vital, by giving them the time and opportunity to take study courses to improve their qualifications.

There seems to be statistical proof that Gen Ys and Gen Xs jump around a fair bit in their jobs in pursuit of the dollar. But if you give them some of these perks they are likely to stay longer, reducing the cost of training new staff for the employer.

Relationships between employees and managers need to be based on clear communications, but resource companies are growing so fast, many of them do not communicate or share information.

Ironically, communications are often hampered, rather than improved, by the sheer speed of the electronic age we live in.

Everyone has got their email on all day and messages keep flashing up and demanding their attention. Many managers and employees think they need to react to low priority messages straight away, rather than prioritising what needs to be done, thereby ruining their workflow.

To help WA organisations retain their employees and address these pressing problems, the all-day seminar mentioned below will switch the spotlight away from the heat, speed and chaos of mining and resources development, while refocusing people’s minds on what really is really important in their lives.