Business

By Katie Paul and Paresh Dave

(Reuters) -Twitter Inc’s new owner Elon Musk on Thursday raised the possibility of the social media platform going bankrupt, capping a chaotic day that included a warning from a U.S. privacy regulator and the exit of the company’s trust and safety leader.

The billionaire on his first mass call with employees said that he could not rule out bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported, two weeks after buying it for $44 billion – a deal that credit experts say has left Twitter’s finances in a precarious position.

Earlier in the day, in his first company-wide email, Musk warned that Twitter would not be able to “survive the upcoming economic downturn” if it fails to boost subscription revenue to offset falling advertising income, three people who have seen the message told Reuters.

Yoel Roth, who has overseen Twitter’s response to combat hate speech, misinformation and spam on the service, resigned on Thursday, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In his Twitter profile on Thursday, Roth described himself as “Former Head of Trust & Safety” at the company.

Roth did not respond to requests for comment. Bloomberg and tech site Platformer reported his exit first.

Earlier on Thursday, Twitter’s Chief Information Security Officer Lea Kissner tweeted that she had quit.

Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran and Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty also resigned, according to an internal message posted to Twitter’s Slack messaging system on Thursday by an attorney on its privacy team and seen by Reuters.

Robin Wheeler, the company’s top ad sales executive, told employees in a memo that she was staying at the company, a person who had seen the message said, diverging from earlier media reports that she too would be leaving.

“I’m still here,” Wheeler tweeted late on Thursday.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it was watching Twitter with “deep concern” after the three privacy and compliance officers quit. These resignations potentially put Twitter at risk of violating regulatory orders.

Musk attorney Alex Spiro told some employees in an email late on Thursday that Twitter would remain in compliance.

“We spoke to the FTC today about our continuing obligations and have a constructive ongoing dialogue,” Spiro wrote.

He stated that only Twitter, not individual employees, could be held liable against the orders.

“I understand that there have been employees at Twitter who do not even work on the FTC matter commenting that they could (go) to jail if we were not in compliance – that is simply not how this works,” he wrote.

In his first meeting with many employees at Twitter on Thursday afternoon, Musk warned that the company may lose billions of dollars next year, the Information reported.

Musk added in the email to workers that remote work would no longer be allowed and that they would be expected in the office for at least 40 hours per week.

Twitter, Musk and Spiro did not respond to requests for comment on a potential bankruptcy, the FTC warning, or the departures.

Musk ruthlessly moved to clean house after taking over on Oct. 27 and has said the company was losing more than $4 million a day, largely because advertisers started fleeing once he took over.

Twitter has $13 billion in debt after the deal and faces interest payments totaling close to $1.2 billion in the next 12 months. The payments exceed Twitter’s most recently disclosed cash flow, which amounted to $1.1 billion as of the end of June.

Musk has begun charging $8 a month for the Twitter Blue service that will include a blue check verification.

WARNING

“We are tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern,” Douglas Farrar, the FTC’s director of public affairs, told Reuters.

“No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees. Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them,” Farrar said.

In May, Twitter agreed to pay $150 million to settle allegations by the FTC it misused private information, like phone numbers, to target advertising to users after telling them the information was collected only for security reasons.

Twitter’s privacy attorney on Thursday mentioned in the internal memo that Spiro had said that Musk was willing to take a “huge amount of risk” with the company. “Elon puts rockets into space, he’s not afraid of the FTC,” the attorney quoted Spiro as saying.

Twitter’s buyout has sparked concerns that Musk, who has often waded into political debates, could face pressure from countries trying to control online speech.

It prompted U.S. President Joe Biden to say on Wednesday that Musk’s “cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at.”

ADVERTISERS NOT REASSURED

Musk told advertisers on Wednesday, speaking on Twitter’s Spaces feature, that he aimed to turn the platform into a force for truth and stop fake accounts.

His assurances may not be enough.

Chipotle Mexican Grill said on Thursday it had pulled back its paid and owned content on Twitter “while we gain a better understanding on the direction of the platform under its new leadership.”

It joined other brands including General Motors that have paused advertising on Twitter since Musk took over, concerned that he will loosen content moderation rules.

(Reporting by Katie Paul in Palo Alto, California and Paresh Dave in Oakland, California; Additional reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto, Diane Bartz in Washington, Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru and Fanny Potkin and Hyunjoo Jin; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Bill Berkrot, Deepa Babington and Sam Holmes)

By James Davey and Rachel More

LONDON/BERLIN (Reuters) – European retailers fear this Christmas could be the worst in at least a decade as shoppers cut spending while the costs of doing business show no sign of abating, squeezing profit margins.

Despite enduring two Christmases under social restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, households are looking to spend less this festive season, both on gifts and socialising, as double-digit inflation dents their purchasing power.

Consumer confidence is also at or close to the gloomiest on record as soaring energy bills add to the spiralling cost of living.

“Today, it is the European consumer I am most worried about,” Dirk Van de Put, CEO of Cadbury chocolate maker Mondelez International Inc, said this week.

In Germany, the HDE retail association is forecasting the strongest slump in Christmas sales since 2007, with retail sales in the crucial November-December period seen dropping by 4% year on year on a price-adjusted basis.

“This remains a difficult time for retail companies,” said HDE managing director Stefan Genth, noting that retailers – faced with higher labour and energy bills and a stronger dollar pushing up purchasing costs – did not have the luxury of being able to offer discounts.

“In retail, we have absolutely nothing to give away these days because the costs are rising for us just as much,” he said.

In the United Kingdom, a raft of surveys indicate half or more Britons plan to spend less this Christmas. Should September’s sharp drop in retail sales be repeated in December, it would be the worst outcome since comparable annual records began in 1989.

“Retailers are facing possibly their toughest festive season in a decade as shoppers look to trade down, search out bargains and purchase less to meet the economic challenges ahead,” Paul Martin, KPMG’s head of retail said.

Official data showed UK retail sales volumes, excluding fuel, dropped 6.2% year on year in September. The biggest December falls – of 1.9% – were recorded in 2010 and 1991, with a lesser drop of 1.1% in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

In the United States, the National Retail Federation (NRF) has forecast holiday sales rising at a slower pace this year, while Amazon expects its slowest revenue growth for any holiday in years, highlighting Europe as a particular pain point.

SPREADING THE COST OF CHRISTMAS

Several UK retailers – including food and clothing group Marks & Spencer, supermarket Sainsbury’s and fashion retailer Primark – have said Britons are trying to spread the cost of Christmas, buying gifts early to avoid a squeeze in December. They are also trading down more to discounters, with data from consultants McKinsey showing the trend is particularly evident in household products, frozen foods and snacks and confectionary. Discounters Aldi UK and Lidl GB are currently Britain’s fastest growing food retailers.

Mondelez’ Van de Put said European shoppers are buying Mondelez sweets like Milka chocolate at discount shops more often but he still expects holiday spending on chocolate – even if it’s less expensive – to be strong.

“In times of anxiety and worry, trying to do something for your loved ones, for your kids, buying them nice seasonal chocolates or biscuits is a very normal thing to do,” he said.

A Spanish association of major consumer goods companies in a recent survey found 77% of retailers in the country, home to Mercadona and El Corte Ingles, are trying to reduce margins and improve efficiency in order to keep prices stable.

Another association Acotex expects retailers to offer slight discounts during the holiday season as consumer demand slows.

“People are looking for discounts, but retailers are seeing a general increase in their costs and are having to raise prices,” Acotex chief Eduardo Zamacola told Reuters.

Meanwhile, 68% of Italians plan to cut back on purchases between now and the end of the year and nearly half plan to cut spending on Christmas gifts, according to a survey conducted in October by Italian small retail association Confesercenti and SWG polling institute.

“The scenario is worrying…consumers are losing purchasing power,” said Mauro Bussoni, General Secretary of Confesercenti.

While Christmas 2022 looks extremely tough, market conditions in the 2023-24 financial year look set to be even worse as any savings consumers built up during the pandemic are wiped out and retailers face the most marked rise in the cost of doing business for many years.

(Reporting by James Davey in London and Rachel More in Berlin; additional reporting by Elisa Anzolin in Milan and Corina Pons in Madrid; writing by James Davey; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Kirsten Donovan)

POLIMI Graduate School of Management in Milan is world-renowned for producing highly innovative and immersive learning experiences for their students and faculty. This has now been taken one step further with the launch of their new Navigli campus, where physical and virtual learning has been combined.

Based in the heart of Milan’s creative and cultural centre and built in partnership with Microsoft and IBM, the Navigli campus is a place where future business leaders can learn in a unique hub of creativity and purpose.

“The world has changed, and education has transformed as a result. This means that higher education communities require an environment where they can thrive by leveraging the opportunities offered by both physical presence and digital connections,” says Federico Frattini, Dean of POLIMI Graduate School of Management.

As a B-Corp certified business school, the campus has also been constructed as green as possible, ensuring that elements have been introduced that continue to raise awareness among students in terms of wellbeing and sustainability.

Digital is also fundamental at Navigli, which is characterized by physical and digital spaces that merge. Indeed, the interactive nature of the classrooms meets the needs of students who are becoming increasingly aware of how digitalisation will be blended within their lives.

The launch of the new campus was triggered by the school’s need to cater for growing numbers of students, managers and professionals who see POLIMI GSoM as a leading light for advanced training courses. This includes 40+ Master’s programmes, seven MBAs and Executive MBAs, plus 200 open programmes for executives and many training courses made to measure for companies.

However, it was also launched as part of the great process of strategic change that the school embarked on starting in 2020, including the schools recent rebranding.

“This campus reflects the on-going path we are on as a business school where we are encouraging our students to discover their higher purpose, to connect in new innovative ways, and to thrive in an environment built for the future,” says Dean Frattini.

Terrifio is a new automated global platform designed to help IP professionals who are passionate about helping IP creators achieve real value from great innovation projects. Terrifio currently has two offerings, Validate and Markr and has just been chosen alongside 30 other lawtech pioneers to join Lawtech UK’s Sandbox 3.0.

Co-founded by Jim and Alex Gastle, Terrifio benefits from Jim’s 25 years of experience as a Registered Patent Agent in Canada and his extensive research and testing with leading IP professionals in the UK, Canada and USA.  Terrifio’s interface provides a suite of tools to reduce the non-billable hours these professionals spend interacting with prospective client enquiries.

The Lawtech Sandbox supports UK founders and legal businesses developing new products and services to transform the legal sector, for the benefit of business and society. The programme provides lawtech pioneers with the support they need to overcome challenges or regulatory blockers halting their growth and development.

To date, the Lawtech Sandbox has directly supported the development of 13 UK lawtech businesses across two cohorts. In a testament to the programme’s impact, past participants successfully accelerated their development timelines by as much as 18 months and increased headcount six-fold.

Terrifio Founder Jim Gastle comments: “We’re delighted to be chosen to join Lawtech’s Sandbox because it is dedicated to supporting tech innovators like us.  We believe their backing will help accelerate the success of our platform and ensure it supports IP professionals in the most effective way possible.”

Jack Cane, LawtechUK Lead says “We are extremely excited to work with our new cohort of lawtech companies, including TERRIFIO, and support them to overcome their growth and scaling challenges.”

Now in its third generation, the Lawtech Sandbox consists of two new programmes: Expert Mentoring and Regulatory Pathfinding. The Mentoring Programme, delivered in collaboration with Barclays Eagle Labs, offers dedicated and practical 1-to-1 support with carefully matched mentors from the Sandbox Network. The Regulatory Pathfinding Programme helps pioneers navigate the regulatory landscape, as well as provide prompt answers to any regulatory challenges facing their business through the Regulatory Response Unit.

Designed with IP firms around the world in mind, Terrifio does the legwork, so you don’t have to. Learn more at www.terrifio.com. You can read more about the Lawtech UK Sandbox programme and this year’s cohort at:

https://lawtechuk.io/explore/sandbox-3-companies-announced.

By Connor David, Freelance Writer

In any industry, transparency is a key factor for a company’s success. While it can take many forms with different methods of communication, the main objective remains the same. This critical quality goes a long way to establishing trust by building strong bonds that are made to last.

For Riggs Eckelberry, Founder and CEO of OriginClear, transparency is “demonstrably doing what we say we do.” This involves effectively communicating online through CEO weekly briefings with like-minded individuals who seek to increase America’s standard of water. “The first and foremost benefit of these briefings is that they enable transparency and investor confidence,” he says. This is crucial for businesses to connect and establish trust with audiences by fulfilling their commitment to be the best they can be.

While communicating with audiences is essential for companies to succeed, establishing long-lasting relationships is also a journey for companies to accomplish over a long period of time. Eckelberry shares, “We started these Thursday briefings a decade ago as ‘broker calls.’ Over time, we began talking to investors and regular people, since the broker community has become largely obsolete.” To combat the ongoing water crisis, developing the means to connect online and form transparent relationships is a process for companies like OriginClear to always trust in. “Now, we have four years in our archives that represent a consecutive record of our many experiences. This week, we will celebrate the 183rd Water Is The New Gold video briefing!”

As the leader in the self-reliant water revolution, Eckelberry strives to make the most of online tools to connect with investors while also working to improve the growing issues in the water industry. “Online connection is more frequent and dynamic. The main negative is that not everyone likes to connect online so we have a minority of shareholders who really aren’t up to speed on how we’ve been doing,” he says. Despite this, Eckelberry and OriginClear strive to maintain a high level of transparency by prioritizing honest communication to achieve positive results.

While the internet continues to shape the way we interact, online platforms like OriginClear’s CEO weekly briefings help to keep companies authentic and reliable with faithful commitments to their audience. “I don’t think it’s possible to generate up to an hour of high-value content each week and keep secrets. Especially since the audience knows very well that we respond to ALL comments made in the meeting chat,” explains Eckelberry. This is true for any business to create loyalty among strong connections and truthful interactions. “Every single decision taken internally has to be taken with the sure knowledge that I am going to have to explain it to the audience!”

Always looking to give valuable insight, Riggs Eckelberry shares his advice for companies trying to make an impact with an online presence and transparent values. “The first step should be to create a list and write a weekly newsletter. Then, you can easily do a Facebook Watch, and simply talk to the camera. Don’t forget to feed your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages, making sure someone in your organization responds to the comments!

By Rachel More

BERLIN (Reuters) – German shoppers are tightening their purse strings this festive season, the HDE retail association warned on Thursday, forecasting the strongest slump in Christmas sales since 2007 as double-digit inflation weighs on consumer purchasing power.

In price-adjusted terms, retail sales in the crucial November-December period are forecast to drop by 4% year on year, the HDE said.

It was one of the first forecasts from a major European economy for the festive period, which will be one of the toughest as households struggle to contend with soaring energy and food bills.

The HDE’s survey of 500 companies found that a little more than half expected this Christmas sales period in Germany to be worse than last year, while 21% feared it would be considerably worse.

In nominal terms, sales are expected to rise 5.4% year on year in the final two months of 2022, the association said.

“Sales are only growing through inflation-driven price increases. This remains a difficult time for retail companies,” said HDE managing director Stefan Genth.

In October German inflation climbed to 10.4%, its highest in about seven decades.

The retail sector is emerging from two years beset by COVID-19 restrictions, including in December 2021 when fears of the newly emergent Omicron variant of the virus forced a pre-Christmas lockdown.

“Today, it’s a different situation. This uncertainty in Europe, with a war that is very close to us, ensures that consumer sentiment is not good,” Genth said.

After two exceptionally strong years during the pandemic, online retailing is experiencing a normalisation in sales, with its first ever year-on-year sales decline forecast by the HDE – a nominal 2022 fall of 2.3%, or 7.2% in real terms.

The HDE saw silver linings for the 2022 Christmas period in a relatively stable job market and the fact that 19% of consumers plan to spend more than 300 euros ($301.92) on gifts, its survey of more than 2,000 people showed.

This was down from 23% in that top price bracket in 2021 and 2020.

Many European retailers have fought to keep prices low in an attempt to lure cash-strapped shoppers, with Dutch grocer Ahold Delhaize and Primark owner Associated British Foods among those registering a boost in sales.

And with Black Friday approaching on Nov. 25, shoppers could rush for discounts.

However, Genth warned that economic difficulties could deny German retailers the luxury of being able to offer discounts.

“In retail, we have absolutely nothing to give away these days because the costs are rising for us just as much,” he said.

($1 = 0.9936 euros)

(Reporting by Rachel More; Editing by Madeline Chambers, Kirsten Donovan and David Goodman)

By Sagar Rajgopal, President and CCO of Ubiquity,

In today’s hyper-competitive, brand-proliferated market, most in-house customer experience (CX) teams are understaffed, underfunded, and overworked. While some brands are choosing to partner with external CX providers to support these fatigued internal teams, others may want a more independent and expert approach to lead customer services that boost sales.

In addition, to anticipate customer expectations, today’s brands need a macro perspective on sector and market trends that many small internal CX teams can’t provide quickly on their own. To adapt, brands are building hybrid teams of internal and external CX professionals that can deliver responsiveness fueled by shared market intelligence. Hybrid teams are more versatile, too, with services that expand beyond the usual scope of customer service and include artificial intelligence data solutions, process exploration and optimization, and continuous feedback loops.

Modern hybrid CX teams are becoming more collaborative and sophisticated in responding to market challenges and developing solutions that meet customer needs. Here’s how they’re doing it:

Meeting Personalization Expectations

Customers want real-time interactions and personalization from brands that cater to specific customer needs. One survey found that 71% of consumers said they would shop more with brands that offer personalized experiences and 80% were willing to share data for special offers while 70% would do it for loyalty points. Similarly, 52% of consumers expect all offers to be personalized. More personalization can look like discount codes for customers who abandon carts, thank-you emails to first-time purchasers, or targeted birthday discounts.

But successful personalization requires more data and a complete history of customer interactions readily available. When the data doesn’t sufficiently represent enough of your base to provide useful insights, that can be a problem. Fully integrated customer response mechanisms across all customer interaction channels, including websites, emails, texts, and social media deliver effective personalization. On top of that, feedback loops on the front lines can analyze customer service calls and implement customer recommendations on the fly.

Managing Omnichannel Experiences

More brands are implementing omnichannel solutions, which can sometimes lead to disjointed or annoyingly repetitive customer experiences. A customer that reaches out to your CX team via Twitter might go to the website chatbot for further help, and then email. At each point, the customer repeats necessary context and information because of data silos.

That discontinuity can be an incredibly frustrating and inconvenient experience. A 2019 Gladly report on consumer expectations found that 54% of customers would rather spend 24 hours in wet socks than repeat themselves. If you’re trying to establish your brand’s credibility with consumers, you have to reduce these iterations and present a unified front.

Unfortunately, data silos are a natural byproduct of organizational structures and diverse departmental processes. Dismantling data silos can disrupt entire organizational setups, which also requires broad, multi-level cooperation that large organizations can’t easily achieve.

Bigger brands are sidestepping some of these complexities by depositing customer data from each interaction into a single, centralized database. They are also deploying cloud contact centers and capturing all consumer inquiries (regardless of channel). Tearing down data silos will give CX teams a bird’s-eye view of each customer, which encourages continuity in customer interactions across all touchpoints and provides a more reliable starting point for customer journey mapping.

Measuring Success and Failure

Your CX efforts may be all for naught if you’re unable to measure your strategy’s performance. For example, call centers teams utilize standard metrics like percentage of calls blocked, average wait/queue time, and average abandonment rates to gauge team performances, but hybrid teams have the resources and manpower to kick it up a notch. The right technology can help teams use rich qualitative data from surveys and customer interactions to perform text analysis and customer sentiment analysis, which determine customer intentions and moods, to inform team performance and strategies moving forward.

Hybrid teams that share market intelligence are also implementing protocols to measure, compare, and improve their performances as both teams and as individuals. Some teams restructure to accommodate changing customer demands with low lead-to-agent ratios that don’t spread team leads thin and offer agents more meaningful one-on-one coaching sessions with team leads.

The bigger brands are expecting transparent reporting and monitoring, and schedule weekly check-in calls with their brand support partners. Being able to prove what you’re doing works could be the difference between your executive board investing more funds into the department or writing initiatives off completely by scaling back and offering only the most basic CX services. Weekly check-ins also allow teams and brands to ensure their objectives stay aligned in rapidly changing CX environments.

Five years ago, only 27% of businesses had single CX partnerships. Today, 51% use a single CX provider while 44% work with only two or three — a far cry from yesterday’s best-of-breed technology procurement model that engaged multiple, niche CX vendors. Anchored on trust, and collaboration, today’s hybrid partnerships offer a wider, more complex suite of tech-enabled solutions that deliver consistently on in-house customer experience ambitions.

By Joseph Kenny, Vice President Global Transformation for ServiceMax.

Companies under pressure for zero downtime

“The war in Ukraine, lockdowns in China, supply-chain disruptions and inflation are all hammering growth,” said David Malpass, president at The World Bank in June. “For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid.”

It’s the harsh reality. A sign of the times that means businesses are already facing some tough decisions. Looking for efficiencies and better ways of working are natural reactions to any economic threat, but the challenge is balancing this with increased productivity. How do companies not just keep the lights on but also remain competitive and grow the business?

One key area is frontline service to keep equipment assets running. We saw how integral service engineers were during the pandemic and how the need for touchless service led to an increase in self and remote services. Companies found efficiencies in reduced journeys and customers often enjoyed quicker fixes, at least for smaller problems. It is a transformation that has continued and one that can enable companies to improve fix times but also reduce costs.

Fundamental to this is IoT and AI. Aside from the economic pressure, automation is increasingly important given the ageing, retiring workforce and the shift in customer demands and expectations. There is a maturity to automation now that is delivering measurable benefit. The technology is driving capabilities, such as predictive analysis that can determine the real-time state of machines and devices and even warn of potential issues and propose solutions.

Predictive maintenance has come a long way since the early days of purely sensor-based alarms. Today, systems are more holistic. They don’t rely on a set of pre-defined criteria to watch and report on. This means a clearer, more manageable warning system, across entire operations that offers detailed analysis of equipment status, while also proposing part replacement and repair options.

It’s understandable that this can drive efficiencies in how engineers manage jobs. Less journey time. More accurate part ordering. Reduced customer downtime and increased customer satisfaction. But getting there demands two key things – connected systems and change management within the workforce.

As Deloitte suggested late last year in its report Next Generation Customer Service: The Future of Field Service, to transform to next generation field service, businesses need a 360-degree view of customers and assets. They also need “new processes and mind-sets to embed the changes,” according to McKinsey’s Prediction at scale: How industry can get more value from maintenance. 

While data silos remain a problem – we recently completed a study that revealed 34% of companies state that while asset data is being shared across the business, its use is limited by disparate systems of record – so do data skills and training. It’s a two-pronged transformation challenge, one that businesses will need to address to meet customer expectations.

“Everything in manufacturing now depends on service,” says Mark Hessinger, VP of global customer services at 3D Systems, a leading additive manufacturing solutions company. 3D Systems uses AI and ServiceMax to power its predictive maintenance service that helps the company meet uptime demands while empowering engineers on the job. “Customers want guaranteed uptime,” adds Hessinger.

This is the point. Customers will be increasingly under pressure to ensure they have no downtime. Productivity is key to dealing with any economic downturn, so ensuring there is no break in production is the challenge faced by all machine makers and OEMs.

So, how does Hessinger guarantee uptime?

“All our new products are connected,” he says. “We are using that data to proactively know what is going on. The better the data is, the better the printing system is. Now we can maintain uptime and resolve customer issues much more quickly.”

Not everyone is so switched on. The problem many businesses face in deploying predictive analytics is that machine data is not connected enough, or the data quality is insufficient. Many companies also face issues around legacy technologies or piecemeal solutions that overlap. Inconsistencies can creep in but how do you spot them and improve the design of the system? Organisations need skilled data engineers and data scientists to do that, to build advanced analytical models.

This is the transformation. The barriers to predictive analytics especially in terms of costs, are coming down. The tools themselves, particularly for frontline service, are more intelligent than ever before and provide companies with an opportunity, to not just ride out any economic storm coming our way but actually thrive within it. Anticipating faults, failures and service requirements is directly linked to mastering productivity – in good times and bad.

STATISTICS from the ONS show that there was a record high of job-to-job moves in the first quarter of 2022, reaching almost one million. Most of these were driven by workers voluntarily moving as the great resignation swept its way across the UK, with no sign of it slowing as we move towards 2023.

Ella Sheppard

Ella Sheppard, senior associate in leading law firm Nelsons’ expert employment law team, has provided her top five ways for employers to retain their staff during the great resignation: 

1.Recruit and on-board deliberately 

Trying to ensure that an employee stays with the business for a long time begins as early as the recruitment process and continues into their first weeks of employment. While a new recruit is being introduced to the business, it is important to set clear and concise expectations of what the job will involve and their expected responsibilities. 

Overpromising during the recruitment process can quickly impact motivation and engagement, so be careful to try and accurately represent what life is like at your business from the outset and give careful thought to steps you can take to successfully integrate the employee into the business. 

2.Set clear development pathways 

Most employees want a clear development and career progression pathway. Not only does this benefit both them and the business by strengthening skills, but it proves that you value and recognise their contributions and are willing to invest in them as a valued member of the team. Consider also providing employees with the opportunity to undertake job-specific training in order to enhance and broaden their skills, supporting future career progression.

3.Workplace culture and perks

Organisations need to carefully consider and plan how they communicate their values and behaviours. Are there gaps in the current offering that competitors are shouting about? What can your business do differently to stand out from the crowd? For example, is flexible working not only allowed but encouraged? How else can you support the work life balance that is so important to modern employees? 

Other perks, such as more annual leave for significant days or for longer serving employees, or occasional office lunches or dinners are also a relatively low-cost way of boosting employee satisfaction and, subsequently, retention. 

4.Listen 

Ultimately, one of the best ways to ensure your employees feel satisfied is to listen to what they say and invite feedback. It helps to show that you are committed to addressing worker concerns and consider their views to be valuable. There are a variety of tools to do this – from online anonymous surveys to the traditional suggestion box. 

However, it is important to not only take suggestions, but to show you are properly considering suggestions and comments that are made and taking action where appropriate.

5.Retrain 

If an employee has proven that they are a reliable and effective worker and a good fit for the organisation in terms of its values and culture, but they are not satisfied or thriving in their current role, they may benefit from being retrained and moved into a different position. This allows employers to retain good employees (and their skills and experience) but hopefully without them being dissatisfied at work.