The term "Great Resignation" was first used by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, to define an economic trend where employees voluntarily quit their jobs at surprisingly high rates due to many reasons such as: law pay despite growing costs of living, safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, little opportunity for advancement, and a desire to work for companies adopting remote or hybrid work policies.
In his Atlantic article “The Great Resignation”, Derek Thompson states, "A lasting effect of this pandemic will be a revolution in workforce expectations.” Thompson said, “Americans seem to be done sticking it out, and this level of quitting is really an expression of optimism that says, ‘We can do better.’ “
A study conducted by Adobe states that the resignations are being driven by Millennials and Generation Z, who are more likely to be dissatisfied with their work. More than half of Gen Z reported planning to look for a new job opportunity in the next year. Harvard Business Review found that the age group between 30 and 45 years old had the greatest resignation rates.
What is being observed as a Western phenomenon is now hitting worldwide by impacting businesses across different industries; presenting challenges for talent management teams to retain and attract talented workforce that will secure business continuity in the current challenging economy.
A high turnover rate is likely to be problematic especially where skills are relatively scarce and recruitment is costly, for instance when individuals have specialist skills or where they have built strong relationships with vendors or clients the resignation becomes more damaging.
It is important that employers watch employee turnover rates and understand how these affect their organization’s performance and ability to achieve its strategic goals.
Here are 3 quick tips to help employers overcome this phenomenon and increase employee retention:
1.Develop Talent Management Practices that support work-life balance and create a great work experience for your employees such as, adopting a remote work environment and ensuring your employees are equipped with the right technology tools to maintain high productivity levels and effective communication between remote teams.
2.Understanding your workforce motivation through data to clearly identify behaviors that lead to success and those that may fall short. With visibility into daily engagement through technology tools you can identify trends and create an environment of transparency.
3.When you are trying to minimize employee turnover rates, it is important to ensure that your employees aren't overworked. All employers expect their employees to work hard to achieve business goals. However during uncertain times, a company cannot afford to lose talented employees as a result of burnout. It's easy to see who is at risk of burnout in an office, it’s not so easy to see who is at risk of burnout in a remote environment.
Our productivity intelligence solution, MENTORPerforma™ with Prodoscore’s™ collaboration, empowers managers and enables employees while supporting a flexible work environment and can help managers see easily and quickly who is at risk of burnout just by looking at their daily productivity score.
For further information on how you can plan remote workplace transformation for your organization, download our white paper at this link.
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