In May the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the unemployment rate had risen to 3.7% from 3.5% after an estimated 4300 jobs were lost in April. It’s expected that the unemployment rate will continue to rise during 2023 with a cooling of the labour market predicted by economists. This just might be the good news employers struggling to fill positions have been waiting for.
In June of last year, the “employment to population ratio” (available employment relative to the working age population) peaked, less applicants and more positions gave employees unexpected bargaining power. CBA economist Stephen Wu believes we are now seeing a cooling of this labour demand, according to Wu online job advertisements have declined in recent months and the number of applicants have increased. This is the evidence from the economists but the anecdotal evidence from various Human Resource departments is that applications for vacancies are still below average.
In this type of environment employee retention becomes paramount and one reason people remain in an organisation is because they are passionate about what they do, but how do you foster, recruit, and nurture a passionate employee?
The answer could be in nurturing their external hobbies and interests rather than the role they perform within your organisation. This can be achieved through flexible working arrangements, offering non-conventional leave (such as pet bereavement leave), and creating a psychologically safe work environment. The days of living and bleeding your job are over as studies increasingly prove that employees who stake their self-worth on their career end up being less resilient and more prone to stress induced burn out. We’ve all worked with someone like this, these are the people who reply to emails at 10pm on a Friday night, this used to be seen as being diligent but in today’s world alarm bells should be ringing.
It makes sense when you think about it, if you put all your energy, passion, and happiness into a job you’re essentially putting all your eggs into one basket.
Encouraging employees to pursue passions outside the workplace whilst fostering an internal culture that is supportive of personal growth and development is paramount to staff retention. Most importantly though, employees need to see their manager or direct report engaging in the same behaviour.
At St Stephen's School we provide special support for our students completing an activity outside of School that is value adding for the student and their education. This support has enabled our budding athletes to compete at State and National competitions, young thespians to travel Australia as part of the cast of Matilda and ballet dancers to compete at elite levels. The same approach is afforded to our Staff who have undertaken triathlons, coached Women’s AFL, and many other wonderful pursuits. There is a distinct value in the transferable skills our employees are acquiring by pursuing their passions that will not only benefit our students but our organisation as a whole. Our Principal Donella Beare not only supports her staff in their endeavours but pursues her own interests as well, she is currently on sabbatical, taking Term 2 to be with her family in New York.
St Stephen's School was recently awarded “Employer of Choice” by the Educator Australia Magazine, we were recognised as 1 of 20 schools in Australia who are leading the way in employee recruitment and retention. Established professional development, well-being initiatives and leadership programs all contributed to the award. Staff Expo is a key component of our professional and personal development. This annual 2-day event is followed by a wellness day. The formal portion includes keynote speakers and various elective sessions before the Friday wellness day where staff are given the day off to pursue their own interests.
Simply put, it’s important from a holistic perspective for your employees to focus on a passion that is outside of their career. This could be their family, their dog or running ultra-marathons, it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it enriches their lives. External pursuits have been proven to enhance work performance, increase happiness and even job satisfaction, ensuring everybody wins.
