How to Navigate the Great Resignation as a Small Business Owner

Businesses everywhere, both big and small, have been shaken by the Great Resignation, a phenomenon where employees are resigning their current positions in droves in search of new careers, new employment, and premium opportunities.  

The Great Resignation is an economic condition that arose in 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In short, several factors, including wage stagnation, rising costs of living, job dissatisfaction, and the desire for better work-from-home options led to many workers submitting their resignations and looking for work elsewhere.  

Economists have not yet been able to determine the exact cause of this phenomenon (and indeed there are several contributing factors). Still, the result is business owners are feeling the strain as the labor pool has dried up and their businesses are perpetually short-staffed.  

So, what’s a small business owner to do?  

There are a few steps you can take to make your business more attractive to potential employees and survive the current economic conditions.  

Tips for Small Businesses During the Great Resignation 

Also called the Big Quit, or the Great Reshuffle, the Great Resignation is an economic condition characterized by workers resigning from their posts in droves.  

Here are some tips to survive the Great Resignation as a small business owner. 

Offer Hybrid or Fully Remote Options When Possible 

We presently are in a worker-driven market. That means workers can choose the work environment that best suits their needs. Hybrid or remote options are what the people want.  

If possible, for your business, offer your employees and new hires the option to work from home part-time or full-time.  

The key to success here is teamwork and excellent communication. Invest in a powerful tool that makes it easy to keep everyone in the loop. There are many different options out there, so do a little research and find out which is the best for your business.  

Redesign Your Hiring Process 

You likely have a strict hiring process that your company goes through each time it wants to bring in a new employee. This process may have worked in the past, but in the new working economy it may be costing you. 

If you have not revisited your hiring process since at least 2019, now is the time to do so.  

Look at the following: 

• Job descriptions. Do your job descriptions accurately match the role you’re hiring for? Are you using proper keywords? Where are you posting your openings?  
• Communication channels. In a tight labor market, the most qualified employees will go to the company with the best communication skills. If your potential employees feel as if they are in the loop before they are hired, that will leave a lasting impression on them. 
• Digital recruitment tools. LinkedIn and other social media platforms are great ways to connect with professionals in your industry. Start doing this now! Make connections with professionals before you look to hire and your potential pool will be larger and more diverse when it comes time to fill new openings.  

Consider Paid Internships 

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a pipeline of new employees to draw from right out of high school or college? Internships are great ways to give young people experience in your field while creating prospects for new hires.  

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However, many businesses do not offer paid internships and instead rely on unpaid internships to fill their lowest positions. 

This strategy might have worked in the past, but presently it can actually detract from your hiring abilities.  

Offering paid internships to recent or soon-to-be graduates can help you fill the positions where you are sorely lacking.  

In addition, you can think of paid internships as auditions for full-time employment. If your intern is a great fit for your company, you can offer them full-time employment. If not, you can part ways on good terms after only a few months.  

Enhance Your Employee Benefits 

Superior benefits are one of the best ways to attract and retain the best employees.  

Competing with the wages of large corporations is not always an option for small businesses. Think creatively with your employee benefits. What do your employees really want and how can you offer it to them? If you don’t know, ask them! 

 For example, employees may be more tempted by a Holiday savings program than an extra 45 cents an hour. Or they may be interested in a few extra PTO days over other benefits.  

The key to creative employee benefits is knowing what your employees value the most and giving it to them. Ask your current employees what they like best about your company, and be sure to keep up on the latest reports on benefits from your industry.  

Keeping Employees in the Great Resignation 

We’ve covered how to attract new employees. Let’s take a quick look at how to keep the employees you already have.  

Here are three things you can do to keep your top employees, provided by LinkedIn. 

• Ask how they’re doing and really listen to their answers.  
• Provide tools and training for them to be productive.  
• Encourage and honor boundaries.  

To read the full article from LinkedIn, follow the link here 

Better Business Marketing with Legend Web Works 

Even the best businesses won’t get applicants if they don’t know how to get their name out there.  

If you want to attract more employees to fill your open positions, you need a sound marketing strategy.  

But how do you create a marketing strategy if you don’t know where to start? 

You have two options.  

You could either research marketing basics, set up social media accounts, start writing blog posts, experiment with new ways to advertise, hire an in-house marketing agent to help you with strategy, and hope things go right on the first try.  

Or you can make things easy on yourself and hire the professionals at Legend Web Works.  

Legend Web Works' marketing team has helped businesses just like yours conquer the marketing game with superior search engine optimization, the best blog posts, and a super social media presence.  

If you want to find out your business’s true potential, reach out to Legend Web Works for better marketing today!