Taking Care of Employees

By Lori Weyuker

The Stepping Stone, May 2023

As we shift from “the Great Resignation” to “the Great Reshuffle,” and then to “Quiet Quitting,” we may come to the conclusion that we should attend to taking better care of our employees.

According to a study by Pew Research, “the Great Resignation” saw “quit rates” reach a 20-year high in 2021. Top reasons for quitting include “pay too low,” “no opportunity for advancement,” “felt disrespected at work,” as well as reasons such as “wanting to relocate to a different area,” and “employer required a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Next was “the Great Reshuffle”—a mass quitting spree where an estimated 40 percent to 75 percent of employees were actively planning to leave their jobs for a better one. Finally came “Quiet Quitting,” the act of doing exactly what one’s job requires and nothing more. “Quiet Quitting” may be connected to management and the (lack of) opportunities for growth that cause people to feel like there’s no point to doing anything above and beyond the basic job requirement.

Employers can do more to retain talent within their organizations. Some ways to take care of employees include:

Spawn situations for new experiences.

Keep your eyes open for opportunities that can provide growth or introductions to other aspects of the business. As a people manager, I became aware of an opportunity for each member of my team to be exposed to live “potential customer” interactions by listening in on conversations between prospects who called the company, and our inside insurance agents. My team gleaned very important insights that enlightened our approach to pricing certain insurance products, such as:

• How some prospects wanted to use the insurance policy.
• How the inside agents were marketing the various policies in ways that were previously completely unknown to the actuarial and product teams.
• Risk loopholes in the product design.

In addition, my team quite enjoyed such a different type of learning experience which gave them more of a 360-degree understanding of the business. A great experience all around.

Make ongoing periodic individual time for each member of your team.

It goes a long way toward feeling appreciated when a manager makes consistent time for each employee. I like to make this real by scheduling a regular one-on-one with each member of my team once a week, but this cadence should be adjusted to fit your needs and schedule as well as the availability of your team members.

Use some creativity in showing appreciation.

Do some “blue-sky” thinking. One idea could be to set aside an offsite team lunch once per quarter—including time to just talk as people and not necessarily focus on work projects. Another idea could be to have a monthly birthday celebration for all team members who have a birthday that month. (Of course, ensuring that your creative ideas are approved by senior management is a must.)

Provide up-to-date relevant individual and group training.

This is imperative, especially for actuaries and other technical team members who need mental stimulation. Discuss this regularly in your one-on-one meetings with your direct reports. Find out in what areas they’d like to grow and seek out cutting-edge training to enable them to achieve growth. This can provide huge positive impacts for your team member, your relationship with your employee and your company. (Of course, the type of training needs to be relevant to their job, or to helping them get to the next level.)

Provide ways for your team members to provide their individual suggestions as to how the company can improve any detail or process.

In addition to bringing obvious important observations to improve the company, it makes the employees feel heard.

Encourage mentoring.

This can work in two directions: some team members can mentor more junior staff and each team member can be assigned a mentor. Your company may have a formal mentorship program you can plug into, or you may have to design this yourself. Being a mentor can teach a person leadership skills and more. Being a mentee has multiple obvious benefits including providing more career guidance and a sounding board.

Say “thank you.”

This never gets old. Just hearing another person acknowledge their hard work can help one get through the day.

Caring for employees should be a real part of your company’s corporate culture. Employees are the most important asset of any company. Let’s ensure our team members know we care about them.

Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.

Lori Weyuker, ASA, is the chair of the Leadership & Development Section Council and works as an independent consultant to InsurTech efforts, the pet insurance industry and health care innovation. She can be reached at InnovationLW@gmail.com.