If you’ve casually scrolled online, spoken with a professional colleague or even glanced at a newspaper headline while popping into a Starbucks, chances are you’ve heard of The Great Resignation. It’s a story that has caught the attention of CEOs, human resources teams and employees across virtually all industries as millions of workers leave their jobs at an unprecedented rate. But why did this new movement seemingly appear overnight?
Simply put: Perspectives toward work have culturally shifted.
After transforming kitchen tables into offices while working remotely for 18 months and battling modern diagnoses like burnout or Zoom fatigue, the scales of work-life balance have tipped. Benefits like flexible work hours, clearly established paths of career development and wellness perks like mental health resources or unlimited PTO are more crucial now than ever before.
In an effort to attract new talent while simultaneously retaining their top performers, many companies have started taking notice and responding accordingly. Some, however, have been paying attention longer than others. Consider Colorado’s Name.com, whose parent company is Donuts, Inc.
“From the start of the pandemic, Donuts has been directly asking employees what matters to them and how can the company support them — and then asking again and again and again,” said Maureen Linekin, senior director of human resources at the domain registrar company.
This has led to beneficial strategies like regularly reviewing market compensation, hosting emotional intelligence education workshops and allowing employees to have a more hands-on approach in their work to amplify growth potential.
Built In Colorado sat down with Linekin to learn about all the additional ways that Donuts — and by extension, Name.com — is striving to stand out among the influx of competitive job seekers to keep their top talent not only supported, but thriving.
What are some things you and your team do to attract great talent and stand out from other potential employers?
We lure people in with donuts, of course! We also regularly review our market compensation and benefits along with our policies and practices to ensure we remain relevant and competitive. We provide a holistic approach to our offerings and we engage with the employee where they are, and then encourage and support them as they grow their career.
Our environment is friendly, fun and collaborative, and we offer employees interesting and challenging problems to solve. Two-way communication followed by flexibility in our response is how we find the best engagement with our employees. As a company, Donuts is continually evolving — the donuts are just an extra perk.
What are a couple of your key strategies or offerings that help you retain talent?
Donuts gives employees the opportunity to be incredibly hands on and to grow their professional skill sets. We also integrate fun social events throughout the year and we continue these even as we work remotely. Donuts includes family and pets whenever possible.
We encourage wellness with weekly yoga classes and provide regular sessions to grow the whole person, like through emotional intelligence education. We also offer employees a truly agile work environment where they may contribute beyond the scope of their job duties which affords them unique challenges and growth potential.
Donuts is evolving and the path is not a straight line.”
How has your company adapted to the shifting wants and needs of your employees over the last year?
From the start of the pandemic, Donuts has been directly asking employees what matters to them and how can the company support them — and then asking again and again and again.
Donuts is evolving and the path is not a straight line. Implementing ongoing Q&A sessions with the CEO to address any questions and comments, sending out frequent employee pulse surveys, or just scheduling time to check in has helped the company gain a better insight on how we can provide relevant and meaningful support to meet changing needs.
