The pandemic shook up a lot in facilities management. One area in particular was the facilities management staff. Now, organizations are left trying to reconnect all the scattered pieces and keep them in place. In addition, they are trying to figure out how to retain their talent. To help do so, Jason Patomson, chief operating officer at Indigo Stone Advisors, will be hosting the session “Creating Culture, Engagement, and Retaining Talent Post Pandemic” at NFMT Remix, running this October 25 to 26 in Orlando, Florida.
NFMT: How can facilities management leaders adapt their employee engagement practices to accommodate the changing needs and expectations of talent in a post-pandemic work environment?
Patomson: The challenges and changes that we are seeing in the post-pandemic workspace were already on their way before the pandemic occurred. The emergence of Gen Z and the Millennials as the dominant force in the workspace was shifting employee expectations in dramatic fashions. Those changes were both accelerated by the pandemic and spread amongst Gen X and the remaining Baby Boomers in workspace facilities.
Management leaders and leaders in general have got to change their thinking and consequently, their approach to the entire workforce has changed. What that looks like in real time is leaders focusing on providing development opportunities for their team members and acting as coaches instead of bosses. It is being by their employee’s side to help them achieve their objectives to help them grow and develop instead of just demanding that they make a certain number of widgets in a day. Additionally, we have got to make sure we appreciate employees beyond their ability to produce widgets at work.
In other words, we need to understand them as whole individuals. What does their life look like outside of the workspace? What is going on with their family? What are their interests? Finally, this one is important for Gen Z and Millennials, is to make sure we can tie what they are doing on a daily basis to the greater mission of the organization. These younger generations love to be tied to a bigger mission and when we can do that connection, it gives them more engagement and more desire to achieve for the organization.
NFMT: What innovative approaches can facilities management organizations adopt to retain top talent and prevent employee turnover in the aftermath of the pandemic?
Patomson: Turnover is a major problem for all organizations. Every company we work with, when we come in the door, it is always at the top of their mind. The fact of the matter is that Millennials and Gen Z will make up more than 50 percent of the workforce in the next two years and they also happen to change jobs at a much more frequent pace than other generations. The current predictions are that Gen Z and Millennials will change jobs 14 times over the span of their careers. Now, it is not all doom and gloom. Recent studies show that it takes more than a 20 percent pay raise to entice an engaged employee to move to a new job.
The key here is to create an engaged workforce, and when you have got an engaged workforce, it decreases the potential for turnover by 70 percent. So how do we create that engaged workforce so that we retain top talent? It is by creating a positive culture that leans into coaching and developing team members. It also involves removing stress from the workplace. It is making sure members have clarity about their priorities, about the tools that they have to complete their work and being able to leverage their natural talents.
If we can make sure everybody is on the same page, everybody has got the tools to do their job well and people have got the ability to lean into what they are naturally good at, you are going to boost your engagement and you are going to retain your talent that way.
How do we attract top talent? Well, if you can do the things I have just discussed, you are creating a strength-based and engaged culture. What that does is create a workforce that does recruiting for the company. When you have got engaged employees, they are two times more likely to thrive in every phase of their life. When you are thriving in your life and happy about your job and engaged at work, you are going to report that to your friends, to your family and to other people you run into. Glassdoor and other employer review sites are going to be full of comments and reviews of the workspace that talk about what a great place it is to work. That is going to make people from the outside want to come and work for you.
To learn more about creating culture, engagement and retaining talent in facilities management, be sure to check out Patomson’s session at NFMT Remix this October. Register for Remix here.
Jeff Wardon, Jr. Is the assistant editor for the facilities market.
