(Expansión) – We already know that everything changed in the world of work as a result of the pandemic, in a dizzying way the leaders of the companies had to make important changes in the organization to get the businesses afloat and our collaborators adapted with great capacity for resilience.
Since then, change has been a constant and the labor market has been adapting to the health circumstances in our localities. Today, we are already talking about a face-to-face return to the offices, combined with work in a hybrid format that allows us to meet our objectives and those of our organization, while taking care of our health and seeking a better work-life balance.
The study “Post-pandemic labor adaptability in Mexico”, which we carried out at OCCMundial, indicates that 8 out of 10 companies, represented by Human Resources professionals, assured that the adaptability of employees to the new labor reality was good or very good.
However, in “post-pandemic” times or should I say post-confinement, because we are immersed in a fifth wave of infections, it is once again essential to focus on keeping our collaborators motivated to prevent the best talent from resigning when finding a new opportunity, which is not necessarily be better in all aspects, but that allows them to have new challenges and break with a possible weariness and exhaustion after living through so many changes.
I can tell you that in this study we found that the main motivation for employees to stay in a job is good compensation and benefits. Sadly, I have seen how a collaborator can leave a company for only a small difference in salary offered. Hence the importance of offering emotional salary benefits to employees that, beyond compensating them financially, offer them well-being, while at the same time making them feel valued.
This motivation is followed by having a good work environment. The great challenges that we have faced in the two and a half years would not be bearable in a hostile workplace; On the contrary, in these times we have developed interpersonal and emotional skills that have allowed us to collaborate as a team under common objectives, always putting the well-being of people first. In addition, in a work environment where people who work face-to-face coexist with those who work remotely, collaboration and goodwill must prevail.
Another of the motivations that I see that workers ask for is to enjoy a good work-life balance, which is achieved with flexibility strategies that were essential as a result of the pandemic so that people could do their jobs, while They catered to his personal needs and those of his family.
We all realized that our mental health was just as important as our physical health and companies know this, so flexibility in the way job responsibilities are executed, allowing for a good balance with personal life , is here to stay and the organizations that do not see it will be losing their best collaborators.
Also, employees, as expected, are motivated to stay in a company that provides a personal career plan. As I have already mentioned, workers must be seen individually, so the interests of one do not necessarily belong to all. Thus, professional development plans must be aligned with personal objectives, which may even include the development of skills to perform in a position outside their current work area.
Finally, our people are motivated to be in a company with an inspiring organizational culture. The acid test was when we faced the health crisis, there were companies that reacted quickly and well and others, on the contrary, could not respond adequately to the pressure, forgot to put their employees at the center and caused them even more work stress with effects on your mental health.
In this way, the organizations that did well and continue to work hard to design strategies that these new working times require will retain the best professionals.
My recommendation is to listen to our collaborators, let’s not take it for granted that we know their motivations, many times what motivates them differs from what the leaders think. Let us maintain constant and direct communication with each of them as individuals in order to establish personal strategies according to their needs and thus make them feel that they are a key part of the organization and in the fulfillment of short, medium and long-term objectives.
Editor’s note: Sergio Porragas is the Director of Operations (COO) of OCCMundial. He has a degree in Business Administration with a specialty in Finance from the Universidad Nuevo Mundo. Follow him on . The opinions expressed in this column are exclusive to its author.
