01/16/2024

Surviving the "Workquake"

Normalize employee turnover to reduce its stigma

Despite the start of a new year, a lot of business problems haven’t changed. When 2022 was winding down, a government report on workplace issues ended the year with a dire observation by noting a majority of Canadian employers were not just struggling to recruit new employees—they were also fighting turnover. A year ago, Statistics Canada reported managers were hoping to improve retention by throwing money at the problem (53.3 percent expected to increase wages while 14.5 percent planned to increase benefits). But recruiting and retention issues continued to haunt employers in 2023, when, according to a survey conducted last summer by Robert Half Canada Inc., 41 percent of Canadian workers expected to seek a new job before the end of the year, with 26 percent looking for better remote options amid the employee recall trend that is contributing to workplace turnover.

As we enter 2024, these issues are well known to most employers. But if they think fighting for talent while getting employees to return to the office is the biggest challenge they’ll face this decade, then they likely haven’t heard Steve Cadigan speak about the future of work or read his book Workquake.

When it comes to talent management, Cadigan is one of the world’s most respected thought leaders. Before launching Silicon Valley-based Cadigan Talent Ventures—which works with leading venture capital and consulting firms and advises organizations ranging from Google, Cisco, and Intel to the Royal Bank of Scotland, Manchester United Football Club, Salesforce, and the BBC—he worked as an HR executive for over 25 years. From 2009 through 2012, he capped his career as the first CHRO at LinkedIn, where he served on the executive team that grew the company from a private venture of 400 employees to a publicly traded global operation that was eventually acquired by Microsoft for US $26 billion.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Ivey Business Journal.