One Way to Fight the Great Resignation? Re-recruit Your Current Employees

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2021

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Debbie Cohen and Kate Roeske-Zummer, cofounders of HumanityWorks, are sounding an alarm bell for employee retention. Record numbers of people are quitting their jobs due to burnout and better opportunities. Those resignations leave their former colleagues burdened with even more work and a sense of despair. Cohen and Roeske-Zummer argue that employers should re-recruit their existing employees and even think of them as customers. And the two consultants outline steps managers can take to openly appreciate those employees and keep a positive culture. Cohen and Roeske-Zummer wrote the HBR.org article "With So Many People Quitting, Don’t Overlook Those Who Stay.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	So you got the job. Now what? Join me, Eleni Mata, on HBR's new original podcast, New
0:08.1	Here, the Young Professionals Guide to Work, and how to make it work for you. Listen for
0:13.8	free wherever you get your podcasts. Just search New Here. See you there!
0:30.0	Welcome to the HBR ID Acast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Kurt Nickish.
0:42.3	You've gotten those emails. The subject line might just be the name of a colleague, or it will
0:53.2	say, sad news, or yes, it's true. And then it will go on to say that someone is leaving
0:59.0	for another opportunity, and that they will be sorely missed. The responses pour in saying
1:04.3	things like, say it ain't so, or please don't go, or even hopefully you won't like it there,
1:09.8	and we'll come back soon. Departure emails have been coming fast and furiously. It's
1:15.0	not just in the US where it's been dubbed the Great Resignation. Microsoft surveyed workers
1:20.2	in 31 countries, 40% of them were considering leaving their jobs within a year. But today's
1:26.8	guests argue that while managers and leaders are stressing about their leaky talent pool,
1:32.1	they're missing a critical place to put their time and energy into those workers left behind.
1:37.6	And even those emails bemoaning the loss of a valued employee may actually be making
1:42.7	things worse. Joining me today are Debbie Cohen, a former executive at firms like Time
1:48.6	Warner and Mozilla, and Kate Rusky-Zumer, a leadership coach. Together, they founded
1:53.9	the consultancy Humanity Works, and they wrote the HBR article with so many people quitting
1:59.8	don't overlook those who stay. Debbie, hello. Hi, glad to be here. And Kate, welcome.
2:06.8	It's so glad to be here. Can we just start by parachuting into that moment, right, in
2:12.9	an organization where the email drops that someone valuable is heading out the door? This
2:18.2	is an inflection point, right, for managers. What's it working or what's going on with
2:23.4	the psychology of the manager and also the organization? Well, I think that you've
	...

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