How to win the post-Covid talent war

HR managers are on the front line of a post-Covid global talent war. Remote working means companies are no longer bound by physical location and competition for workers is global and greater than ever. Businesses need to have a reputation as great places to work to attract the best talent.

Good internal communications are key to this and help create a happy and engaged workforce. Companies with great internal communications give purpose to their employees and provide a more transparent, open culture. Despite this, 60% of organizations worldwide have no long-term strategy in place for their internal communications.

In this article, we dive deeper into the talent war. We also explain how Eversheds Sutherland helped over 1,000 of its global employees to support each other during the pandemic using a Fliplet app.

Engage employees to win the talent war

According to McKinsey, 87% of the global workforce is not engaged at work and only 10% think their employer provides good internal comms. As a result, over 85% are either looking for a new job or would apply if an opportunity came their way.

Unengaged workers cost UK companies up to £70bn in lost productivity every year.

These figures are partly because, post-pandemic, many people prefer to work remotely. As a result, employee connectivity and welfare have become significant concerns.

Today, the companies winning the talent war put systems in place to address these issues. To explain this, let’s take a look at that example we mentioned earlier.

Open House by Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland is a global law practice providing legal advice and solutions. They serve a range of clients, from small businesses to large multinationals. The firm has 5,000 employees in 68 offices across 32 countries.

The company values staff engagement and internal comms. So when Covid-19 hit, they wanted an online solution to support their employees. Their key concerns included:

• Difficulties working from home connected to:
• Work/life balance.
• Mental and physical health.
• Loss of social bonds between employees.
• Staff only had WhatsApp and email groups to communicate with each other.
• There was nowhere for employees to talk and share ideas on non-work-related topics.
• As a solution, Eversheds Sutherland used Fliplet’s platform to develop the Open House app.

Eversheds designed the app to provide a social hub for their teams and reduce the homeworking difficulties they face.

People-focused features:

Chat rooms: These allow colleagues to share tips about surviving lockdown and discuss subjects that matter to them. Included topics like wellbeing, remote working, and kids.

Firm-produced content: For example, how to add mindfulness practices to your daily routine. This allows Eversheds to support employee wellbeing.

Peer-created content: For example, pet photos in the ‘just for fun’ section. This puts employees in control of the app content.

Content engagement tools: Employees can comment on and bookmark content. This encourages discussion amongst colleagues.

Available worldwide: This allows people who don’t normally interact to do so; perfect for helping colleagues feel connected in a global business.

Photo sharing: People use this in chat rooms to get to know each other better.

Content sharing: Employees can share webinars, seminars, and live workshop recordings with colleagues. This knowledge sharing allows employees to continue developing their careers.

Peer recognition: Colleagues can thank one another for upholding company values. This spreads good vibes throughout the company and reinforces its values.

The results? Eversheds now has a more connected workforce. Colleagues can discuss non-work topics and interact with employees outside of their projects or teams.

The app also helped deliver the company’s wellbeing program to employees working from home. Within six weeks, Open House had boosted employee engagement.

For more on employee engagement, read our blog.

An unprecedented success story

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Take action to win the talent war

McKinsey says that businesses that use social technologies in the workplace like Eversheds experience tremendous benefits, including:

• 20-25% increase in productivity.
• 24% reduced turnover rate in B2C industries.
• 59% reduced turnover rate in B2B industries.

More jobs are being advertised every day. If you don’t engage your employees, it will only be a matter of time before they find a new opportunity.

Don’t wait for this to happen. Find out how a Fliplet app can help you improve engagement and boost retention.