I received a press release this week, that was entitled: “Be nice to your staff or risk losing them due to post bank holiday blues”. Well, it certainly grabbed my attention, so I read on.
Apparently, according to research by recruitment site Monster.co.uk, bosses need to watch out because nearly half of the UK workers questioned in the survey were more likely to look for a new job after a bank holiday weekend; with 33% stating that they definitely plan to job search. The life coach at Monster, Jenny Ungless, said: “People use their weekends to recover from the week at work, catch up with chores, see friends. The bank holiday Monday gives them that extra day to take stock and consider issues such as job satisfaction, career progression, etc.”
The press release went on to advise employers to ensure staff leave the office in a “positive frame of mind” before the bank holiday weekend, because an act of goodwill costs the employer little, will help staff to feel valued, and will ensure they don’t come back from the long weekend ready to search for another job.
OK, so I am all for goodwill to employees and any initiatives that help them to feel valued are of course to be welcomed. But why just on a bank holiday weekend? Surely this needs to be thought about and implemented on a continuous basis?
Plus, if a member of staff is that unhappy in his or her job, I am sure that they will be thinking about looking for a new job on any day of the week, not just after a bank holiday. Retention is an ongoing issue, and I think it would be dangerous to think that bosses only need to ensure their employees are in a positive frame of mind on certain occasions.
Meanwhile, over on McArthur’s Rant, you will find a discussion on using virtual job fairs to help with attracting new talent – it is a very interesting post and worth reading, because virtual technology is something that will only become more important and beneficial to business in the very near future.
Talking of jobs, over on Jackie Cameron’s blog, she points to a different sort of recruitment website – could make for some fun ‘Friday before the bank holiday’ reading.
