The last three years have taken a toll. Upheaval, changing government guidelines, and concerns over physical and mental health have impacted workers and organizations alike. Retaining employees, as well as keeping them engaged and productive, has become more difficult through the turmoil. At the recent From Day One conference in Seattle, a panel of four HR executives, moderated by Puget Sound Business Journal’s Alex Halverson, discussed some of the strategies that have shown promise in their organizations. 
 
1. Ask them what they want. At Providence Healthcare, a hospital system based on the West Coast, Denise Bowen, who leads the people strategy and solutions team, emphasizes flexibility in the workplace. “We engaged focus groups before we started inviting people back to the office,” she said. Among the factors considered was what work could be virtual and what needed in-person participation. 
 
Surveys for feedback found a 10-point increase in engagement with this flexible model. But there was also a desire for more connection. “We asked them to return to the office based on that feedback,” said Bowen. “We told them how, why, and when to return, and we made it more invitational than a mandate.”
 
Murika Matz, the chief customer officer at the people analytics firm Visier, said talking to employees about what they want is key: “They have to express to us what they are looking for so we can all be accountable.” The last three years there required nearly constant communication between organizations and their people. Moving forward, Matz suggested, keep some of that up by asking team members where they want to go: “If they are remote, ask them how you can help ensure they are ‘seen’.”

 
2. Be clear with expectations. At Fortive, Shannon Flynn, the head of HR, said they have tried more than once to get people back into the office. The first invitation back was in July 2021. Almost no one returned. With the rise of the omicron variant, RTO was put on hold until May 2022. “Our culture is in-person problem solving, so we really wanted people back.” That second time, the corporate team was required to be in 2 to 3 days a week – every Tuesday and Thursday, with the third day personal choice. More people responded, but leadership wasn’t getting the 2-3 days they wanted. 
 
“Productivity wasn’t the issue. We were missing out on collaboration – especially cross-team collaboration,” Flynn said. Some of the newer hires had never worked in-person, and engagement with them was lower than with those who had longer tenure. Half of all attrition came from those newer hires, too.
 
Last fall, Fortive asked managers to have one-on-ones with each team member and inform them they needed to be in four days a week. “We figured if we said 3-4, we’d get 2-3. So we said four.” It wasn’t just a directive, though. Employees were asked what they needed in order to meet the goal. “We asked, ‘What can we do to get you to four days?’” Flynn’s own request was to be remote one week a quarter. “Those were my parameters. We are trying, through these one-on-one conversations, to avoid any misconstrued group message and to help them figure out how to be intentional about being in-person.” 
 
Managers will be accountable for making progress on the goal. So far, it’s working, and 70% of the corporate team is back full time.
 
3. Show them what you know. You might tell your people about results, goals, and plans, but it’s better to show them, said Bowen: “Transparency has to be authentic.” 
 
Even layoffs can be transparent, says Janine Yancy, founder and CEO of the online learning and predictive analytics firm Emtrain. “Do employees understand why this is happening? Open the lens so that employees can see what the executives see. Instability comes when there is no visibility of what is going on, and they have to simply receive decisions. That’s when people feel unsafe. There is always some level of business information you can share about what needs to be done to be successful. ” 
 
While executives may craft the policy, HR people should help create the message. It isn’t about performance of the individual, and Yancy said HR can help ease the transition for those impacted by a reduction in force by emphasizing their contributions and strengths and reminding them they are still part of a community.
 
4. Focus on people, not just the bottom line. Bowen says that if you view employees only as means to an end, they will feel it. “There are still opportunities for talent,” she said. “This can’t just be about business outcomes. They know if there is genuine care, and it’s the right thing to do to show up for and invest in your team.”
 
Flynn likes the analogy of the three-legged stool: individual, team, and business. While business results matter, the stool won’t stand if the other two legs aren’t considered, as well.
 
The last three years have helped individuals become more known to their managers and other team members, said Matz. Zoom calls featured pets and kids and updates on how people were handling lockdowns, isolation, and quarantine. That improved knowledge of each other is one of the things that we should try to hold on to, she said: “There were things we were missing that we didn’t know we were missing.”
 
5. Be consciously inclusive. Emtrain has more than 100 million poll responses related to inclusion, and Yancy says that, without equity, you won’t achieve inclusion. If you are implementing a RIF, ask yourself if the process is transparent so that people have context. Check to see the impact on key demographics. “From our own research, we know that not everyone has the same experience. White men have the best, then men of color, then white women, and women of color have the worst experience.”
 
HR can’t just be a recipient of strategy, but rather needs to drive it, said Bowen: “We aren’t just about organizational excellence on the back end, but are a partner in shaping strategy. We can help manage culture and experience.”
 
Flynn says that, even in a time when many businesses are contracting, there are opportunities. Indeed, Bowen points out that tech company layoffs were often an opportunity for organizations like hers. “There are other options,” Flynn said. “If they don’t feel connected, if they aren’t engaged, you will lose them. I want it to be hard for people to go.”

Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.