The Pandemic and the Great Resignation
In the age of COVID-19, people are now firm with their work expectations. In fact, a report from McKinsey & Company found that employees now prioritize work-life balance, work flexibility, and mental health when looking at their employers for certainty about the future. They also reported feeling anxious if their employers are unable to implement and communicate strong and understandable work policies.
If organizations are unable to meet these new expectations, they risk losing their employees to better, more concerned employers. Unfortunately, this has already been happening in what is called the “Great Resignation”.
Let’s take a look at why employees are leaving their jobs and what employers can do to prevent high resignation rates in their organization.
What’s causing the “Great Resignation”?
Mass resignations were first evident in the United States; Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that 4 million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021. Resignations were also highest in the tech and healthcare industries—the former saw a 4.5% increase in resignations over the past year, while the latter saw a 3.5% increase.
The Great Resignation is also evident in the Philippines, especially in the healthcare sector as medical frontliners faced and continue to face much of the brunt of the pandemic. Around 40% of private hospital nurses resigned in 2020, which later increased when the number of COVID-19 cases significantly grew as well. Nurses are no longer staying in their jobs because they seek better benefits and work conditions and find better-paying jobs abroad. In 2021 alone, nearly 7,000 nurses already moved to the US and Great Britain.
These reasons aren’t any different from those of workers in other industries. The bottom line is, millions of employees all over the world are now choosing better pay and work environments, as well as rethinking their careers and long-term goals because of the impact of the pandemic.
In this regard, employers should no longer be static with their work policies; they should take these new employee expectations into consideration when improving their programs and processes and creating an environment where employees are heard and included in organizational decisions.
What can employers do to retain employees?
Not a lot of organizations realize that their workforce is their greatest investment. If employers continue to implement unclear work policies, exhibit poor leadership, and ignore employee plight, they will likely experience high negative attrition, which often comes at a hefty price.
To retain your employees, you can undertake various solutions, the first of which is to revisit your organization's existing policies and work environment. According to McKinsey & Company, employers should look into their employee designations, company culture, employee benefits, career development opportunities, and engagement programs. It’s important that you check what works and what doesn’t within your organization and, of course, involve your employees in this process.
You should afterward take accountability if you unearth problematic policies and programs. Data from Dale Carnegie shows that only 41% of employees say their supervisors admit they’re wrong. Accountability assures employees that they’re in an organization that values honesty, integrity, engagement, and ownership. Hence, if you fail to acknowledge your actions, you’ll likely ruin your organization’s credibility as an employer and negatively affect employee engagement.
Once you’ve revisited your existing policies and work environment, it’s time to modify or replace them with better ones. For example, you can enable remote-work options, flexible hours, and employee autonomy within your organization as those can assure your employees that you trust them enough to be able to manage both their job and personal life.
You can go the extra mile by rewarding employees with both monetary and non-monetary means to make them feel recognized and appreciated. Similarly, you can make your employees happy by simply having their back in everything they do. This could mean letting go of uncooperative clients or relieving your employees from responsibilities that no longer fit into their schedule.
When applying a most holistic solution to resignations, employers can enlist the help of organizational experts to manage their workforce retention programs. Q2 HR Solutions offers such service through HR by Design, which covers retention strategy development, change management, organizational structure, learning and development strategy, and more. Q2’s team of seasoned consultants and industry practitioners can help organizations review their workplace policies and improve their organizational efficiency to create a sound work environment for employees, encouraging them to stay in their current jobs.
The New Normal brought on by the pandemic has significantly changed work dynamics, leading to new employee expectations that employers must learn to meet. Hence, employers should learn to prioritize employee wellness as it creates a domino effect in their organization. When employees are able to make their employees happy and satisfied at their jobs, the rest will follow.