How Customer Success Leaders Can Weather (Or Avoid) A Labor Crisis

As the weight of the full-blown pandemic lifts, there seems to be an unexpected trend that is taking the workforce by storm, which might soon hit Customer Success departments hard. You might already feel it, or notice it in other sectors. Instead of returning to the office, a wave of workers are handing in their resignation instead. 2.7% of U.S. workers left their jobs in April, up from 1.6% the previous year. This also represented the highest number of U.S. workers leaving their jobs in two decades. 

So the question is: where are the workers going? Surveys and research reveals that many employees appear to be looking for greener pastures, fueled by the shift in return to office life. They want more flexibility, and are feeling the burnout of the pandemic. One interviewee recently told Bloomberg that a six-minute meeting drove her to quit her job, after she got ready, trekked to the office, and dropped her child at daycare, all for the brief chat. Employees simply don’t want to be dragged back to the office for no good reason, and are looking for employment opportunities which respect that desire. 

Applying this lens to your Customer Success team might make you change your approach to employee acquisition and retention in the coming months and years. By taking certain steps, leaders can ensure their Customer Success Managers are in it for the long haul, and feel fulfilled and rewarded in their position.

This article will discuss:

  • What the labor trends reveal

  • How these trends apply to Customer Success

  • Actions Customer Success leaders can take to weather the storm

What The Labor Trends Reveal

As we just mentioned, the U.S. workforce is hemorrhaging employees, as companies simultaneously struggle to fill vacancies. Unfortunately, experts believe this is just the beginning, and that this wave of resignations is likely to continue for months or possibly years. For example, a March 2021 survey of 2,000 workers revealed that “talent migration” is likely in the workforce.

Of those surveyed, 87% of American remote workers prefer to continue working remotely at least one day a week, and 42% of workers said they will quit their job if their employer doesn’t continue to offer remote work options. Meanwhile, a hefty 25% of employees surveyed said they plan to look for a new job once the threat of the pandemic is over no matter what.

To dive a little bit deeper into the data, this survey also outlines some of the reasons why workers are leaving. They want the benefits of remote work, such as flexibility and reduced commuting, and don’t mind trading that for the challenges of working at home, such as isolation.

Workers are also incredibly burnt out from the pandemic, after facing increased workloads and more stress for so long. But it’s also important to note that despite the desire to work from home, workers still want to feel connected to their teams and offices, with most workers saying they do see the value in coming together in-person “at least some of the time.”

It’s very clear that the priorities of employees have shifted, and if their needs aren’t being met at their current workplace, they’re more than willing to hand in their resignation and find what they need elsewhere.

How These Trends Apply To Customer Success

Customer Success departments thrive when there is employee retention. Regarding customers, when Customer Success Managers work with accounts for a long period of time, they become intimately familiar with their needs and goals, and can best support them.

And when it comes to internal cohesion, a Customer Success department that is familiar and works well together will obviously be much more successful than one that is fragmented and full of turnover. 

These labor trends should be raising red flags for Customer Success leadership, who should take steps to prioritize their employee retention. Instead of plowing ahead with a plan of “business as usual,” Customer Success leaders need to utilize their design thinking abilities, to come up with innovative solutions to their employee hiring and retention.

Actions Customer Success Leaders Can Take To Weather The Storm

While all of the labor statistics may seem like doom and gloom, they also present an opportunity for Customer Success leaders to get ahead of this trend in their own department. Here are some steps Customer Success leaders can take in order to get ahead of an influx of employee resignations:

  • Understand your employees’ current reality: Day-to-day challenges from the pandemic are still weighing on most people. For example, regular full-time child care may still not be available, or your employee may be sharing a home workspace with another person who is also working remotely. It’s necessary to understand and be empathetic to these types of situations even as life returns to “normal.” Many are dealing with a new version of normal that continues to require balance. You may need to rethink a rigid 9-to-5 workday and permit more flexibility in work hours, allowing employees to support their customers and hit their goals while balancing their personal needs.  

  • Connect with each employee: Simply lumping your employees together as one group and just assuming they’re fine is the wrong way to approach this crisis. You should take the time and effort to connect with each employee, and see how they’re doing. You could make this a monthly or quarterly check in, and use this time to gauge their feelings, and see if their needs are being met. This will give you the opportunity to hear what your people really need, but also give you a possible heads up if someone plans to resign. This sort of hand-holding may not be necessary indefinitely, but could help you weather this storm in the short term. 

  • Poll your people to get a read on their state of mind: If you want to know what your employees are looking for and how they’re currently feeling, the only way to do it is to ask. Send out surveys and polls, asking employees what their priorities are, and if their needs are being met. Maybe your team would actually rather meet in person, but prefers to have flexibility in another area. You can also do these surveys anonymously, in order to encourage honesty.

  • Consider long term remote work options: If you’re going to remain fully remote, be cognizant that you’ll need to work harder to create a culture of teamwork and connection. Don’t let your employees feel isolated.  If your company is starting to move back to the office, consider ways that you can continue to offer remote work options at least some of the time. The data clearly shows that in general, employees desire remote work options. Even one or two days a week at home might be enough to lift the burden of stress, and make them feel like they have a better work life balance. If you must be back in the office 100% of the time, you’re going to need to be more flexible on things like time off for appointments, or shorter days, or your employees will leave for organizations that offer more balance. 

  • Be conscious of workloads and time: We also know that employees are clearly burnt out from a long year of navigating pandemic stressors, juggling childcare, remote schooling and few chances to get away and reset, so it’s more important now than ever before to be aware of your employees workloads, and how their time is being spent. If it seems like someone has too much on their plate, or they’re not handling their workload well, that’s probably something you should intervene on. Also, consider if the meeting could be an email. Don’t drag your employees to the office for a six minute meeting (like the example earlier in the article), and instead treat their time with respect and awareness. 

  • Invest in your employees career and development: Morale is typically higher and retention is always greater when your employees feel valued. If you are not already recognizing your top performers, then focus on getting programs in place to do so. In addition to recognition, you should also be focusing on engaging with your employees about their career path. Top performers are the most likely to leave, so you need to create a career progression plan and offer them opportunities for professional development to keep them engaged and motivated. 

  • Hire for longevity: You will likely still need to hire new employees, and when this happens, make sure you focus on longevity. You need to plan for the current state of your team, but also what you think your team will look like in future.  You need to hire Customer Success Managers that have the skills you need now, and to support your customers as your company scales. Ask your potential hires questions about where they see themselves in a few years and how they hope to grow at your company. Make sure their answers align with future plans for your department.

It’s important to remember that despite the feeling of a return to some normalcy, the workforce simply isn’t “business as usual.” By viewing your Customer Success department through this lens, you’ll be able to take steps to avoid a wave of resignations, and ensure that your Customer Success team members stay with you for years to come.