The great resignation – how to respond by Russell Beck

The number of vacancies in the UK is currently over 1.1 million – 50% higher than the pre-pandemic peak. By definition, anyone with talent is in demand. It is a seller’s market and it shows – 40% of employees are at least “somewhat” likely to change jobs in the next 6 months.

Covid has caused monumental changes to every aspect of life – work is no different – and the Great Resignation is upon us. Organisations are responding in classic ways: Pret recently joined Sainsbury’s, Costa Coffee, Morisons, Aldi (etc) in raising pay to £10 an hour; entry-level lawyers command £150,000 starting salaries. Pay is absolutely a key employee driver, but focusing here makes work transactional and of course undifferentiated, the main impact being that entry pay remains broadly identical for each role.

Humans crave interaction.   Almost half of the workers admit they do not find their careers fulfilling.

Covid has forced a great reset in how we view work and life and made us all consider what is “worth it” and “what is the point.” Employees want what we call the 4 C’s – career, cause, community and culture.

Money is important, but you will likely never have enough. It is only by focusing on and being true to the C’s that you can build a sustainable (and cost-effective) future. A future where your people want to work and do their best each and every day.

Russell Beck, Talk Delivery platforms:

This subject can be delivered in a variety of ways, as a keynote or seminar to inspire and challenge leaders and managers; as an interactive workshop to help localise the thoughts and ideas and start to apply the learnings; as consultancy support to help implement activities and as coaching and mentoring support to help leaders take action.

Takeaways will vary based upon the intervention but would include: a clear articulation of the challenge; the business case for change; analysis of what employees want and methods of identifying the local needs; practical ways in which each of the 4 C’s can be implemented and cations that can be taken.

The Generation Game – The challenges and opportunities of managing a multi-generational workforce by Russell Beck

“UK employers are still woefully unprepared for the impact workforce demographics will have on their businesses.” – CIPD and CMI

There are already five generations in the workplace, with employees separated in age by 50 years or more.

‘They’ say that Millennials are flighty, expectant and demanding; that the older generations don’t understand technology, are slow and bureaucratic.

In-between you have the forgotten generation, Gen X, diplomatically interfacing to the analogue Baby Boomers and the totally digital Millennials, who are just about managing whilst trying to juggle every aspect of life at once.

If all that wasn’t enough, here comes Gen Z or ‘Generation Truth,’ who are more likely to call you ‘mate’ than ‘Sir,’ who want feedback every 5 minutes, for whom everything is but a click away.

None of this is wrong or right, it just is. We have to understand the generations for some very simple reasons: they are our workforce, they are our customers, they are our relatives.

If we don’t understand or can’t relate to them then how on earth will we succeed together?

Pulling on the latest research and background information, this session considers all of these aspects and more. Looking at the different behavioural traits, together with the political, cultural and technological factors that impacted each, we will consider where their strengths lie, the respective value propositions to enhance engagement and motivation, and explain why things can just blow up without you even realising why.

Feedback from a recent attendee (board member) in Novartis stated:

“If you go to only one session this year, make sure it’s this one. Russell is an exciting, engaging speaker and captivates his audience from his first word to his last. This will be the best time you can spend if you want to know what makes your colleagues tick. This seminar helped me to understand the motivation, the values and the beliefs of my team and I raved about this presentation for months afterwards. This is by far the best presentation I have ever seen.

Russell Beck, Talk Delivery platforms:

This subject can be delivered in a variety of ways, as a keynote or seminar to inspire and challenge leaders and managers; as an interactive workshop to help localise the thoughts and ideas and start to apply the learnings; as consultancy support to help implement activities and as coaching and mentoring support to help leaders take action.

Takeaways will vary based upon the intervention but would include: a clear articulation of the challenge; the business case for change; analysis of how our formative years impact our approach to and outlook on life and work; the motivational factors for each generation and where inter-generational conflict can occur.

A Chat with Russell Beck

As part of our ‘Chat with…’ series at Great British Speakers, our Director Jane Farnham sat down with Russell Beck to discuss his work as an employment expert and leadership consultant. Watch the full interview HERE.