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The Great Resignation Isn’t Over Yet. Is Your Software Business Ready in 2022?

How HR leaders are attracting and retaining talent  

In 2022, businesses are more ready to face the challenges of the new post-pandemic working world. But as fresh economic data continues to warn about a competitive labor market, the Great Resignation (or Great Reshuffle) looks set to continue this year. Employers are being challenged to stay on their toes when thinking about how to retain valuable employees, all while attracting and recruiting new talent.
 
Volaris hosted a panel recently with three HR leaders to hear how they are adapting to the paradigm shift in the future of work. What all panelists expressed in common was a belief that HR leaders and team managers have a responsibility to help workers feel supported, engaged, and achieve job satisfaction. 
 

Volaris HR panel

What HR Leaders Know About the Great Resignation  

While the trend of the Great Resignation was most pronounced in U.S., other parts of the world are also experiencing the trend, including in the UK and parts of Europe.  
 
Some data points on the Great Resignation: 
  • Increased competition for talent means employers will have to provide more attractive offers. Glassdoor predicts this will lead to many companies boosting salaries in 2022.  
  • Voluntary departures between April and December 2021 were higher than in the same period in 2019, according to 45% of managers surveyed by the Chartered Management Institute for Bloomberg News.

Infographic: The Great Resignation | Statista

Graph source: Statista

“Just offering big budget salaries isn’t cutting it anymore.  Managers who aren’t adapting their working models will be left wanting - and their organizations will pay the price.”

Ann Francke, CEO, Chartered Management Institute (UK) 
 

Recruiting New Talent in a Post-Pandemic World

Sarah Davie, HR Director for Volaris in the UK and Ireland, says the region is seeing an increasingly competitive labor market. High demand for technical staff has encouraged her HR team to think differently about how to recruit people. They have decided to focus on key foundations of what makes a great employee—attitude, cultural fit, and drive to succeed—and train new employees on the technical skills that are needed to be successful. 
 
Streams for recruiting new graduates also continue to ensure a strong pipeline of new talent. Davie’s team also promotes their brand story about the rewards of working for Volaris businesses, communicating it through LinkedIn and other channels.
 
To help talented employees stay with Volaris long-term, Davie’s team is also making sure that their onboarding plans are robust for helping people get settled in new jobs while in a remote work environment. 
 
Gordon Riebe, HR Director for the DACH region, shared a recent success story about a candidate who was recruited from a country outside where the Volaris business was based. 
 
“The flexibility to hire from multiple European countries is a big plus for a company as big as we are,” he shares. “People don’t have to give up where they live in order to move to another country for work.” 
 

Retaining Talent: Rethinking Employee Goals and Engagement 

All our panelists have observed evolving attitudes and goals about work since the start of the pandemic. They have remained focused on keeping employees happy and engaged. 
 
Many Volaris companies offer flexible working locations and hours. Employees are also welcomed and encouraged to work with colleagues on different teams, across skillsets, and across the globe. 
 
“An outstanding part of Volaris is that you can work across cultures, share knowledge, and widen your horizons,” said Riebe. 
 
The research-backed Volaris talent management process looks at employees not just as a team, but as individuals who have unique contributions to make to the business. Employee goals, strengths, and ambitions are aligned with company goals to help create a win-win situation. 
 
“People’s goals have changed—their attitudes toward work, life, and what they want to accomplish. We are sensitive about this and want to go the distance together with them.”

Gordon Riebe, HR Director, DACH region, Volaris Group 
 
Like many Volaris businesses, Primetics is always looking for people who can drive growth, shared Leigh Roberts, the company’s General Manager.
 
Over the past few years, Roberts has challenged his team to look at employees and see the potential for what they can do for the business in the future, rather than limiting them to one type of role. For him, this has meant shifting a mindset, for example, from “A developer is a developer” to “A developer could run the business someday”.
 
Coaching, mentoring, and identifying opportunities to try new HR approaches is a key priority for all HR leaders, who work with team managers to support and develop trusting relationships with employees. 
 
“Investing my time in the team is a good use of my time, and that attitude has cascaded down from the top at Volaris.”
 
Leigh Roberts, General Manager, Primetics 
 
The panelists’ main advice for current and future employees is to communicate honestly about ambitions to management, and to work out a plan so that both employee and company goals can be achieved. 
 

Not Just ‘Business as Usual’: Challenging the Status Quo 

A unique aspect of belonging to a fast-growing company like Volaris is that the business is always changing, thanks to new acquisitions. Riebe says that it has challenged his team to think creatively instead of getting too comfortable with how things have always been done. 
 
Riebe and Roberts both shared examples of employees who showed aptitude to go beyond their current roles. After assessing company needs, those employees were offered opportunities to move into new roles where they can lead product innovations and new initiatives. Those roles will keep their businesses growing sustainably over the next 5-10 years. 
 
“The jobs we create are a mix of what we can do, how the market changes, and what our employees are capable of doing,” said Riebe. 
 

Talent Management Remains a Pillar for Career Satisfaction 

Promoting from within was another theme that all panelists shared. The talent management process develops people’s abilities, and the leaders agreed this HR best practice has been a valuable selling point for recruiting new hires.  
 
Davie says the Volaris process provides structure but is still flexible enough to continually evolve. Regular performance reviews give people a clear understanding of how they are doing and what their managers can do to support them. 
 
“When people understand the role they play and understand what they can contribute, that goes a long way for job satisfaction,” she said. 
 
Across Volaris, HR leaders meet annually to look at every individual in the business and to understand each employee’s performance, contributions, and potential within the company. Leaders get a good look at opportunities across the teams instead of just within their own.  
 

Looking for More Thought Leadership on the Future of Work? 

The panel also included a discussion about hybrid work and answered audience questions.  To access the full webinar, watch the recording on Volaris Net Europe.