'Give me flexibility – or I'll quit!': Employers make changes in Great Resignation

Employers admitted to making changes in their workplace schemes in a bid to retain and attract talent - a reflection of the pandemic's impact to companies and workers alike.

According to the study from Joblist, companies have lost four employees on average over the past six months for several reasons, with majority of employers (41.6%) admitting that it is difficult to replace them. Despite this, more than half of companies believe that they could still prevent further employee turnover. So, what exactly are they doing to retain and attract more talent?

According to employers, flexible scheduling is the key to prevent further employee turnover as well as attract new employees to work for them.

Employers said the following were also done to prevent more staff from leaving:

1. Allowed flexible scheduling (47.5%)
2. Hosted team bonding events (28.2%)
3. Allowed employees to continue remote or hybrid work (26.2%)
4. Changed or improved benefits (23.3%)
5. Offered unscheduled raises (20.8%)
6. Offered unscheduled promotions (14.4%)

In attracting talent, the companies made the following changes to their respective workplaces:

1. Allowed flexible scheduling (47.5%)
2. Offered remote work (27.2%)
3. Changed or improved benefits (23.3%)
4. Increased position salary (17.3%)
5. Made changes to workplace culture (16.8%)
6. Made changes to vacated roles (13.4%)

Read more: Flexible work options rise in value as jobseekers look to cement work/life balance

Half of employees (51.5%) in the study have admitted that they recently left or are considering vacating their posts because they refuse to return to offices.

Finding better opportunities came in next (41.6%), closely followed by finding a better position (41.4%), and then finding better pay (37.3%).

According to the 40% of the employees, not being granted a raise made them look for a new employer. But a majority (80%) of them said they were successful in asking for a pay hike to receive an average of five percent extra.

Joblist said in its study that employers must need to learn to adapt to "ever-evolving" employee needs to mitigate attrition levels. It added that employers and employees must also understand and accept each other's needs.