It’s time to swap the Great Resignation for the Great Retention

As well as changing how we work, the pandemic has radically altered employee expectations of who they work for. One of the big shifts we’ve seen is the consumerisation of work, where employees have raised their expectations of companies, and expect the same great experience the company offers its customers.

The Great Resignation, which began in 2021, continues to pose a challenge around the world. Talented employees are increasingly aware of their worth and are moving to jobs where they feel valued, rewarded and supported. Right now in the UK for example, there are more job vacancies than available talent.

The good news is that companies that offer a better employee experience than their competitors really do have an opportunity to attract and retain top talent and gain a competitive edge.

Can technology help drive staff retention? Here’s what our new data tells us

Checking the employee experience pulse

To help businesses understand employee expectations and correct the pain points around how staff work, Zendesk surveyed internal support team members and managers for our EX (Employee Experience) Trends Report 2022*. Our study underlines the urgency of the situation, with 42% of managers expecting staff churn rates to increase.

By understanding the challenges and taking steps to address them, businesses can reduce attrition, retain talented employees and operate more effectively.

Five key themes emerged from our study:

1. Companies are noticing the link between support teams and business growth

In the past, many companies viewed internal support teams, such as HR and IT, as cost centres, but more recently, there has been a huge shift in perspective. Companies are beginning to see the correlation between support teams and business growth.

Our survey finds that 68% of companies now recognise that there is a direct link between employee service and business growth.

2. Support teams are under increasing pressure

When you consider the demands on internal support teams, particularly since 2020, it’s easy to understand why they’re feeling the pressure. As well as handling the shift to remote working during the pandemic, many internal teams have had more responsibilities. They’ve been responsible for rolling out new office policies, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and other drivers for change.

Overall, the roles of people working in internal teams have evolved and expanded significantly. Tickets filed to internal support staff by their colleagues were up 31% last year.

In addition, many internal teams are facing increased pressure from leadership. More than half (54%) of internal teams surveyed say that their visibility is higher than ever before and the pressure they feel from leadership is more intense.

3. Lack of support around internal staff processes is a challenge

Zendesk’s research finds that more than four in ten (43%) internal staff members don’t feel they are treated equally or fairly, which is way higher than the rate for customer-facing staff (14%). Nearly a third (32%) of respondents told us that they are penalised for the rate at which they respond to employee inquiries.

There’s an opportunity here for organisations to improve processes for internal staff, which could go a long way to help retain and attract talent.

4. More than half of internal support staff are unhappy with their current WFH tools

Digital workflows are critical in a remote working and hybrid environment, yet more than half the internal support staff we surveyed said that their WFH tools were not adequate.

There is so much scope for companies to increase productivity and relieve pressure on internal support staff when day-to-day tasks are streamlined or automated.

Help centres are also a missed opportunity. Simply updating content regularly can reduce strain on support agents. It can also minimise conversions of staff queries into tickets, as colleagues can find answers to common questions themselves. However, our research finds that internal teams have struggled to grow their help centre content and viewership over the last year.

5. Great employee experience starts with making things easy

The answers to complex problems need not be complicated. Adopting a people-centric approach and making your internal support staff’s lives easier can make all the difference. People teams tell us that to keep their staff happy, informed and productive, they just need a few simple things, including:

– a regularly updated help centre
– more training
– a single view of important business content
– more collaboration with other departments
– switching to a customer service tool that’s easier to use

Delivering on employee expectations

At a time when it is increasingly hard to retain internal support staff, it is now more critical than ever that employers invest time, attention, resources and technology to reimagine the workplace. With Zendesk, you can be as helpful for your employees as you are for your customers. Our help desk solution simplifies employee support and makes information sharing easier.

By working smarter to support internal teams, businesses can help turn the tide on the Great Resignation trend and usher in the era of the Great Retention.

*About the report

The data in the Zendesk EX (Employee Experience) Trends Report 2022 draws on data from two sources: a survey of 4,670 internal support leaders, members and technology buyers from 21 countries, and product usage data from more than 97,500 Zendesk customers worldwide who participate in the Zendesk Benchmark.