How to Effectively Address ‘Quiet Quitting’ and Improve Employee Retention — Greg Sloan

Throughout the past few years, business owners have struggled to address employee burnout, and the latest trend of ‘quiet quitting’ during what has been dubbed the great resignation isn’t over yet. Today on the Atlanta Small Business Show, we’re pleased to welcome Greg Sloan, Chief Purpose Officer and Co-Founder of Go Beyond, who discusses how you can retain your staff and inspire them long-term.

Transcription:

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Greg, thank you so much for joining us on the show.

Greg Sloan:
Thanks, Jim. Thanks for having me.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
All of these terms, the great resignation and quiet quitting, We’re going to need a dictionary pretty soon to figure out what all this means.

Greg Sloan:
Yeah. Its own glossary, right?

Jim Fitzpatrick:
It’s exactly right. Yeah. Figure out what all these terms are. So how has the pandemic and the great resignation shifted how people are evaluating their work and their purpose? We hear so much about this very topic.

Greg Sloan:
So personally, I think that this trend actually started coming out 9/11, I think of 9/11 as being the first act.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Really? Okay.

Greg Sloan:
Because that’s when we learned that life is short. You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. And then we learned it again in 2009, that you can’t trust the leaders, You can’t trust the financial institutions. I was in the financial services industry for 25 years, so I was right in the middle of that. But I think of this great resignation as being the crash of the wave onto the shores. And this wave actually started before the pandemic. The pandemic is just pushing it over the crest, from my perspective.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right. And those other events that you spoke of, we’ve all lived through them. Maybe some of the Gen Zs haven’t lived through them, but nevertheless they did make an impact. They did leave somewhat of a scar, if you will, on everyone to say, hey, what am I doing? Am I happy in my work? Is there a purpose in what I’m doing? And I think that plays such a big role today, doesn’t it?

Greg Sloan:
Absolutely. And a lot of the individuals that you hear about today came out of college in that 2010, ’11, ’12 timeframe. I was talking to a leader the other day who graduated, I want to say in 2012, 2011. And he talked about how coming into his career path, it was so much uncertainty. Right now he’s 10, 12 years into it, and worked very diligently at a very big brand and decided, you know what? That just didn’t give him enough meaning and purpose in life. And he actually ventured out and did something else.
So this generation, whether you want to call it the millennial or the Gen Z, I think it’s really a result of what they’ve lived through in their early career stage. And that wasn’t their fault, so to speak.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right. And it’s interesting because in many of these cases, they were brought up by baby boomers, and of which I am one of. And we didn’t necessarily look at work that way, did we? We had a completely different view.

Greg Sloan:
No, we did not. So I’m about to turn 53 years old. I guess I’m right below that baby boomer generation. But clearly in my career, early on it was all about success. Significance and meaning? Don’t even bring those words. I’m a finance major. Math has got to make sense in the spreadsheet. All the-

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Get the gold watch in 30 years.

Greg Sloan:
Absolutely.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Right. And the pension.

Greg Sloan:
Yeah. And I spent 25 years primarily in financial services and really witnessed, not only in our own company, but in other of my clients, where they found themselves getting to the point where they say, something is missing. Even for my executive, something is missing. And what was missing is what Viktor Frankl calls, “A man’s will to meaning.” What is it that we are here that sets us apart?

Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right. And that has to be now in the office. It can’t be left to say, well, whatever you’re doing after work or on the weekends, or if you’re giving back to the community and you’re doing charity. But now people want to work for companies that have a purpose and are doing good themselves out there in the community, right?

Greg Sloan:
Absolutely. And I call myself now, a Chief Purpose Officer. That was a C-Suite title that didn’t exist five years ago.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Right. I was going to ask you about that, though. That’s a good title.

Greg Sloan:
So Deloitte, big consulting firm, Price Waterhouse Coopers, they now have chief Purpose Officers …

Jim Fitzpatrick:
No kidding?

Greg Sloan:
… in their organization. So what is a Chief Purpose Officer? It’s someone who really understands that the organization has a purpose that goes beyond shareholders and customers. It really has to incorporate all stakeholders, including employees, including the community, including their industry, but also incorporate the individual, the personal purpose. So a chief purpose officer really helps align and even activate purpose within the organization with your people.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Yeah, for sure. But I hear what you’re saying, Greg. But I pay my people good and I want them to get a good 40 hour work week out of them. And isn’t that enough that we do that? We offer healthcare and we’re good. Don’t we check all the boxes?

Greg Sloan:
Absolutely. That was my mentality, that was my mantra until I started my own small business right here in Gwinnett County. And I struggled with the millennial generation, if we want to call them that, staying about 18 to 24 months. And it just hurt me, it pained me. Because right at the time that I feel like I’m getting that great productivity about them, they said, you know what? This is not what I really am looking for.
And so I had to go through an internal struggle. This is taking you, probably 2012, 2013, where I really realized in order to build my business, I had to grow my people. So we said, grow your people to grow your business.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Yeah. There’s no question about it. And there’s so many small business owners that are listening to us have this conversation today, and even those that maybe are ready to start a small business and haven’t really thought much about this. Because if you have employees, you have to think about this, because I’m telling you, as the owner of a number of companies here in Atlanta, this is a real thing. This isn’t just one of those touchy feely deals that says, oh, you got to coddle your people and take good care of them. It goes beyond that. To your point, this will determine the success of your business, won’t it?

Greg Sloan:
Absolutely. There’s a medical practice that we’re working with, a small medical practice. And the doctor has had so much turnovers in staff, we cannot begin to execute the business plan, because there’s so much turnover. And he needs stability with his people, front office and back office, for him to really execute on his business plan. So you want to execute the business plan, make sure you keep your people.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right. That’s right. And it’s not all about money. However, money is an element out there. It shouldn’t be overlooked either. Especially with inflation being 9%, gas prices and everything else that goes into it. People now are all about getting compensated now versus before, where it was, well, you go up the corporate ladder and you make so much more each year. And by the time you’re 40 you’ll be making a pretty decent living. And now workers are like, no, no, no, no, no. We know our worth to a company and we got to start getting paid right now.

Greg Sloan:
Yeah. So there’s this real tension between the inflation and the need for cash, as well as the desire for meaning and purpose. Now, BetterUp did a study in 2017 that specifically looked at the millennial generation. And they were willing … this is pre-pandemic, they were willing to take up to a 23% pay cut if the role and the job that they had gave them more purpose and meaning in life. Gartner did a study in 2021 that said the pandemic has caused 52% of us to reevaluate how our purpose shows up in our job every day.
So absolutely, there is this tension. And what we found in working with small businesses, medium size businesses, as well as talking to their employees, they want fair compensation. Now, fair to them may be different definition to the employer. But at the end of the day, compensation is always going to be part of the equation.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Yeah. There’s no question about it. And then we hear a lot about, now it’s a very popular thing for companies to be able to offer flex-time. So they can work from home or they can work remotely and work in the business. And that’s a big factor. I mean, I’ve done a number of interviews here, we’re hiring four or five people for our company. And the first question out of most of the applicant’s mouths, is this a remote position? Can I work remotely on this?

Greg Sloan:
So one of the individuals we’ve come across is a nurse, Ivy League educated, and she actually left her small business that she … employer. And her next gig was, that was the top of the list. Does it allow me to be remote? So we believe, you’ve heard this term, the future of work. So we think the future of work is hybrid.
Now, hybrid doesn’t necessarily just mean geographically hybrid. It also could mean a flex schedule, as well as a flex job description, if you will. So there’s a new term for hybrid that I think is coming out, and we’re going to start seeing this in the coming years.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Yeah, that’s interesting. That’s interesting. And I think today’s employers have to be flexible and they have to stay on top of all these changes, don’t they? So they don’t get blindsided and say, what are these people looking for? What are we missing here? And not get those good candidates.

Greg Sloan:
So this is not a small business, this is one of the largest companies in the world, is Unilever. But Unilever is front and center in this new paradigm shift of the hybrid workforce, where they have taken upon themselves to realize that the actual job itself does not require … not all of the jobs require a full-time person. And if they can meet in the middle, where some of those employees, maybe they only want 30 hours, maybe they only want 25 hours, but they can get the job done, then there’s a way for them to actually work together.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Right. Which really requires a new skill set among the managers that manage these people, because it throws you off, right? Where it’s like, well, we’ve got some people here and some people not here. And then which ones are working remotely, and what do they do? And then who’s watching … I shouldn’t say watching them. But who’s holding them accountable? You know what I mean? Because often, it’s out of sight, out of mind.

Greg Sloan:
Yeah, no question. And obviously not only skills, but technology. You have to have the tools necessarily to motivate, to inspire, to manage those individuals, your people, but also do it in such a way that you value and appreciate what they are bringing to the table. Because they are bringing their heart and soul, daresay, their purpose to your job.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
That’s right. So tell us a little bit about your company, for those that are not as familiar with it as we are here at the show. Tell us what Go Beyond’s all about.

Greg Sloan:
So Go Beyond is a people development company. We provide tools, coaching, technology. We have an on demand platform where small medium size businesses can purchase the program for their employees and lead them through a journey, which we call, Purpose in Action. So if you want to engage and retain your people, what we would say is, activate purpose within your people.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Okay. Okay. That’s great. And you work with businesses large and small, I assume?

Greg Sloan:
We do. We launched as something more in the enterprise, but we’ve gradually begun to build out our tools for small medium size businesses. Even as low as five employees now.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Yeah. Oh, that’s great. That’s great. Many of our viewers have five employees, but then many of them have north of 250 as well. So today we look at small businesses as those companies that have 500 employees and less, because they all have all of the same problems. How do you get good people to work for you? How do you shop for healthcare? How do you drive more people to your website? And it’s interesting.

Greg Sloan:
Yeah. And for us, the sweet spot is probably that 100 to 500, if I’m candid about it. But this is the space in the market where you’re not big enough to offer some of those mini-perks, but you’re much bigger than just the mom-and-pop. And you’re really trying to find that balance. And so what we’ve done is we’ve built tools primarily for that audience. And so we are really excited about continuing to build that out and to help companies grow their business by growing their people.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
And now it’s all about recruiting those right candidates that will come into your business and not leave your business. So for people that are out there that are listening to us have this conversation, regardless of the size of your business, this needs to be something that you do focus on. Perhaps you want to give Greg a call and ask him to do an analysis of your company and see where you stand on all of this. On all of these very important issues.
Because to your point, you can’t grow a business unless you have the people and the staff to do that. And then once you have them, you don’t want to lose them. It’s so expensive to rehire people and get them trained. And some of the mistakes they might make that we know they’ll make coming in as new employees, that if you put a dollar amount to that alone, it’s incredible. So it’s all about today, getting the right candidate and keeping that candidate happy. And there’s so many different factors that go into that. There really are.
So Greg Sloane, Chief Purpose Officer … I love that title. And Co-founder of Go Beyond. So check him out online. These are the kinds of solutions that we want to be bringing to you folks here as small business owners in Atlanta. And a great talk, great discussion today. So thank you so much.

Greg Sloan:
Thanks, Jim. Thanks for having me.

Jim Fitzpatrick:
Thank you.

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