The Great Resignation and The Life Lesson For Employers
Publié le 29 August 2022
With drastic changes shaping the workplace, it’s important to reflect on the Great Resignation and the life lesson for employers as they face the challenge of employee retention.
The Covid-19 pandemic was a catalyst for mass voluntary resignations around the world after the health emergency reshaped the priorities and expectations of employees in the corporate world. Dubbed the Great Resignation or the Great Reshuffle, the workplace revolution marks a future where employers must work harder to retain employees as workplace flexibility sits at the forefront of these employee expectations.
When the pandemic struck in March 2020, employers were instructed to close their offices to limit the spread of the virus. This supercharged the shift to working from home via remote working and employees quickly became accustomed to managing every aspect of their working life, such as how they work, where they work and when they work.
While the pandemic revolutionised the future of work, it also reinforced the importance of life’s greatest pleasures, such as good health, the ability to work remotely thanks to innovative technology and socialising with family, friends, and colleagues…leading the way to the Great Resignation currently underway. Organizations in all industries must take time to understand the effects of the Great Resignation and the life lesson for employers in order to meet employee needs and remain successful.
How the Covid-19 pandemic led to the Great Resignation
According to FreshBooks, it has been estimated that the average person will spend one-third of their life at work which roughly amounts to 90,000 hours of work. As life at work, or the total waking hours spent working makes up one-fifth of a typical individual’s lifetime, the pandemic presented a prime opportunity for employees to reflect upon their career aspirations. When including other factors, such as time spent commuting to work and productivity lost due to unnecessary emails, meetings and office chit-chat, it led many people to consider what was the best use of their time.
Confidence – While social contact was off-limits during the pandemic, including clocking into the workplace for non-essential workers, this provided employees with the opportunity to regain their footing, build confidence and tackle self-sabotage to be more successful in the workplace.
Self-sabotage at work ranges from fueling a negative inner voice and burnout, to working inefficiently. As employees grow in confidence and come to terms with their career vision, finding an employer that better supports them throughout this journey may likely be the most appropriate solution. Working from home forced many people to act as their own manager, responsible for their own scheduling, productivity and output. Contrary to the worries of many companies, employees were able to meet expectations while working remotely.
Career development – If employees are stuck in career limbo as there’s no room for progression, they may decide to switch roles to one where there is a clear roadmap for progression in the workplace. This teaches employers to promote personal development and upskill staff from the get-go, as failing to provide career development opportunities could push employees to resign and fuel the Great Resignation.
Money – While employees worked from home during the pandemic, this newfound freedom presented a host of financial savings as the need to spend money on things such as gas and take-out lunch was drastically minimised, compared to working in an office.
According to the Support Our High Street survey from Real Business Rescue, workers buy lunch three times a week on average.
The total that survey respondents spend on lunch each day is £6.93, so if workers plan to go into the office 2.8 times a week on average and purchase lunch, this could equate to a weekly spend of £15.59, a monthly revenue of £62.37 and an annual revenue of £748.44 – just from buying lunch almost three times a week!
It should be noted that one of the downsides to working from home is the possibility for increased utilities cost. This is due to an increase in the amount of heating, cooling, lighting and internet usage as employees spend the workday in their home office instead of in the workplace. These costs can unfairly fall onto the employee, and it is an important factor to keep in mind
Flexibility – If employers are resistant to permanently rolling out working from home, or a form of hybrid working after the pandemic, a wave of resignations may not be unsurprising. The freedom to work from home during the pandemic resulted in changes to the lives of employees, from childcare, to striking a healthy balance between work and family life.
Low scores for these factors can accelerate pending resignations and drive employee turnover which is why employers must strive to embolden staff. Failure to address the desire for increased flexibility has been cited as a primary reason for staff turnover during the Great Resignation.
Transitioning Back To The Office Post-Covid-19
As working from home was widespread during the Covid-19 pandemic, employers that instructed workforces to permanently return to the office would likely have felt a sting after two years of flexible working, including working from home, hybrid working, working flexitime and staggered shifts.
While this marked a leap in progress for workplaces, those resisting flexible working are likely doing so to the detriment of staff already accustomed to such flexibility and freedoms.
Data from the Office for National Statistics on the future of hybrid working found that more than 8 in 10 workers who had to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic said they planned to continue in some form of hybrid work.
In 2022, the proportion of workers both working at home in remote work job roles and at their usual place of work (hybrid working) has been rising, while the proportion of those working from home exclusively has fallen.
While the pandemic enabled more employers to experiment with the roll-out of flexible working arrangements, it also fueled the four-day working week experiment in the UK. This is a trial of a shorter working week during which employees will face no loss in pay while working one day less a week. If it results in no loss of productivity, quality or customer satisfaction, it demonstrates that the assumptions about the traditional structure of work need to be seriously rethought.
The Great Resignation and The Life Lesson For Employers
The Great Resignation and the life lesson for employers must serve as a wake-up call for employers as the professional values of employees mature, in line with their outlook on work life. While the pandemic reinforced what’s cherished in life, from physical wellbeing to an active social life, employers must do more to resonate with these values and accommodate personal life around work.
Employers must take note of employee expectations post-pandemic and revise employment contracts to mirror this. This move is essential to prevent resignations and in turn, to do more to drive employee wellbeing and job satisfaction.
