Avoid the effects of the ‘Great Resignation’ by offering your employees share rewards to boost retention

With the rise of the ‘Great Resignation’, you might want to reconsider your strategies for employee retention. Did you know that employee share rewards can be leveraged as a powerful tool to promote employee stickiness? Read on about everything we've learned on the subject! 

‍Firstly, what is the ‘Great Resignation’? 

Currently, the US is going through a phenomenon called the ‘Great Resignation’ where tidal waves of workers are resigning. Workers between the age of 30 and 45 years old are rapidly resigning, with reports suggesting at least 20% of them will quit their jobs in 2020 or 2021. According to the Harvard Business Review, the health care and technology industries are most affected by the ‘Great Resignation’ phenomenon. Studies have shown that those who have worked in demanding fields during the pandemic are more susceptible to tendering their resignation due to increased demands and burnout.

In Australia, the effects of the ‘Great Resignation’ are also emerging. A sense of burnout and  feeling that employers failed to support employees during lockdowns are driving a wave of local job hunting. A survey from HR platform Employment Hero found that two in five Australians are planning to leave their current roles within six months.‍

Why is the ‘Great Resignation’ happening? ‍

Over the last 2-3 years a greater emphasis has been placed on achieving work-life balance. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many workers are re-assessing the balance between pursuing career ambitions and enjoying other life goals. The ‘Great Resignation’ is ultimately fuelled by a fundamental shift in how people view work. Employees can now easily shift between organisations and seek out employers who offer better overall compensation packages including meaningful perks and benefits.  ‍

So how can organisations ensure employee retention? ‍

Fortunately, Upstreet might just be what you're looking for. 

With Upstreet, you can introduce a new innovative way to reward your employees using fractional shares in your company. Making your employees owners in the company is a well understood strategy to drive productivity and company loyalty. Employees simply care more when they own a piece of the business they work for. With Upstreet you can easily grant employees fractional shares of your company or a selected ASX Exchange Traded Fund , which is a fantastic opportunity to attract and retain talent. Establishing an owners mentality with employees not only benefits the company through more caring engaged employees, but it also helps all Australians to create future wealth through owning fractional shares. This is something cash rewards rarely do. 

Recent research conducted by the Harvard Business Review has shown that “employee-owned companies tend to see the biggest performance advantages when employees think and act like owners.”

Furthermore, a report by KPMG indicated that employee ownership supported companies on average outperform the index by more than 5 percent, and have higher dividend yields.

With Upstreet, you can easily implement an employee share reward platform (ESRP) to boost employee retention without having to manage the associated costs and complexity of a traditional employee share scheme. ‍

Upstreet Employee Share Reward Program in Action‍

Kelly+Partners (KPG), a multi-award winning national chartered accounting firm, partnered with Upstreet. Founder and CEO Brett Kelly said:

“We, at Kelly+Partners, believe it is important for our team members to have an owner’s mentality and our parent entity being listed on the ASX combined with Upstreet technology provides an opportunity that is not available to other accounting businesses.”

KPG launched the share reward program to all employees in June 2021, beginning with an initial reward of 15 KPG shares for all employees to celebrate the company's 15th anniversary. Since then, KPG has reported positive feedback from employees about the Upstreet program, praising its simplicity and useability. This positive response is mirrored by an initial uptake from 90 KPG employees and 141 transactions completed during July. 

The Upstreet program is designed to equip companies with an affordable and efficient solution to offer employee share ownership to all team members. The program encourages employees to align their interests with the firm, improving employee loyalty in the process.  ‍

The US phenomenon of the ‘Great Resignation’ is happening in Australia. It is now more important than ever to ensure employee retention. Keep your employees by your side with Upstreet’s employee share rewards platform. Our platform is designed to be highly flexible and easily adjustable to suit the individual needs of every business as it grows and develops.‍

Want to learn more about ESRP? ‍

To request a call, demo or pricing quotation, please contact info@upstreet.co.