The New, New HR Normal: Retaining the best and brightest and keeping them engaged!

Like it or not, when it comes to our work and workplaces, COVID changed everything. According to research released in August of 2021, 25% of Americans have worked from home throughout this year. By 2025, even after the pandemic has cooled, 1 in 5 employees will still be working from home. At the same time, we’re facing “the great resignation,” a mass, voluntary exodus from the workforce of some of our best talent. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, during the months of April, May, and June 2021, a total of 11.5 million workers quit their jobs. Those who’ve stuck around are demanding more pay, flexibility, and personal accommodations the likes of which we’ve never seen. We are now living in a new, new normal where retaining our best and brightest and keeping them engaged has become HR’s new urgent mandate. Gregg Ward, acclaimed organizational culture expert and author of the best-selling, award-winning business fable The Respectful Leader offers us the top 5 things we – and our organizations – can do to stay on course in this ever-changing, complex, and uncertain employment landscape.