Responding to The Great Resignation with Empathy
The Great Resignation, as termed by psychologist Anthony Klotz, is upon us. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 3.9 million people in the US quit their jobs in June of 2021. Almost 4 million people, amidst a global uncertainty most of us have never before experienced, threw up their hands and said, “Enough!”
What creates that sort of phenomenon? What could cause millions of workers to risk quitting a job after the biggest economic contraction in US history?
A CLOUD ON THE HORIZON
Those of us who spend our days observing and developing workplace cultures have been watching this Great Resignation accumulate like a cloud on the distant horizon – a quick google search returns endless articles discussing the phenomenon. Experts posit many reasons for this mass exodus: choosing not to return to the office after the relative freedom of remote work, early retirement, the draw of a higher salary at a new company, etc. The list goes on, but the common theme that continues to surface is greater control by the candidate in their market.
However, I am less interested in where people are going. Instead, I am curious about what people are leaving behind.
SHOULD I STAY OR GO?
Stepping back into the job market is taxing. Interviews are emotionally draining, negotiating can be terrifying (60% of women have never negotiated their salary!) and starting over somewhere new is yet another change in a year of relentless insecurity. Is the lure of a home office and pay bump enough to offset these factors? I am not convinced.
When we only consider the Great Resignation through the lens of the opportunistic employee, we are not considering the radical cultural and personal transformation that has taken place for many of us over the past 18 months. Through the pandemic, many of our circles of influence shrank markedly. Our worlds became more insular, and many of us were afforded a new luxury: time.
We had the luxury of time to think about our priorities and to shed activities, obligations, and people who didn’t align with our principles. Time to think about what we want for the rest of our lives because the future became even more uncertain. Many people began to redraw the bounds of community and the very definition of success. The division between what we value and where we work was called into question. A study by WeSpire found that “Gen Z is the first generation to prioritize purpose over salary.”
THE RIGHT RESPONSE
I believe the companies that will excel at drawing and retaining talent in this period are no longer trying to meet new needs through old means. Instead of simply offering a blanket work-from-home policy, they will ask employees what it is about working from home that they prefer. Is the choice driven by the need for flexibility to care for family members? Do they feel remote work provides a buffer from microaggressions experienced in the office? Does the open office and floating desk policy leave introverted or neurodiverse employees relishing the quiet of their desk at home?
Asking these questions provides invaluable insight into how employees bases experience company culture. Companies that can adjust to a workforce that is paying close attention to authenticity of purpose, who are less geographically tied, and more values-driven, are those that will see the accumulating cloud not as a storm but as a nourishing rain that affords new levels and forms of growth.
*1 https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/jolts.pdf
*5 http://www.wespire.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/WeSpire_GenZ-2.pdf
*7 https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/05/13/workplace-microaggressions-remote-workers/
*8 https://www.vice.com/en/article/wjvd9q/offices-can-be-hell-for-people-whose-brains-work-differently
