A Guide to Retaining Employees During a Crisis

Brief

The first step for handling a crisis or downturn is to be honest about what’s happening at the organization, followed by investing in your people through skills development, rewards and flexibility. One-on-ones are also a crucial opportunity to understand how your employees are doing and improve your relationship with them.

Insight

When a crisis hits, it can leave many leaders in a panic. What do you do when you face any of these situations:

• A major product launch fails
• The year ends way below your sales goals
• A recession hits the economy, freezing many of your customer’s budgets
• That next round of capital isn’t coming together as planned
• A global pandemic requires everyone quarantine and stomps on the economic brakes
• Supply chain issues slow your growth, or block delivering on your promises to customers

Whether macro or micro factors, issues like these can force tough questions about layoffs and cause a loss of momentum for your team and the company as a whole.

A recession or any similar crisis presents tough challenges for leaders at any level. As you work to save your company or team, these challenges can make it hard to maintain happy teams that are motivated and productive. This makes everything you’re trying to do harder.

hallenges can hit your team in a variety of ways:

• Layoffs and reorgs can leave everyone on your team wondering, “Am I next?”

• Morale plummets over the fear of the state of the business, “Will any of us have jobs next month?”
• Wage freezes, barring you from giving raises, even for the most deserving, makes your team think about if the grass is greener elsewhere.
• Hiring and growth stop, so promotion opportunities are all on hold, leaving your ambitious team members hungry.
• Your company can’t afford luxuries taken for granted like employee perks and special events that boost morale.