Your Response To The Great Resignation Starts With Three Actions

Create the best employee experiences on the block

The Great Resignation is real. And it represents a permanent reset. In October, 4.2 million workers left their job (4.4 million left in September). They represent three percent of the workforce. Turnover has increased by between six and eight percent since the pandemic. About 11 million jobs are now open, but 7.4 million people are unemployed.

The worldwide crisis made your employees reassess their goals, values, and priorities. They spent time with their families and thought about their work and whether it had any purpose or meaning. And the events of the past year also made many people reflect on values like diversity, equity, and inclusion. Managers must realize that even the employees who are coming back to your company aren’t the same people who departed during the lockdowns.

Further, before Covid-19, companies faced a lack of skills in emerging areas of technology, such as AI. The skills gap, combined with the shrinking labor pool, means that the workers prized in a knowledge economy can write their own tickets. The employees you most want to attract and retain will demand an optimal work experience. And they will shop around until they find it.

If companies want to attract and retain valued talent, then they must create the best employee experiences on the block. If they do not adapt to the new reality in the labor market, then they will not only fail to attract talent, but they’ll lose their talent to companies that offer greater flexibility, better compensation, or more opportunities for learning and advancement.

What should managers do? They can start with three things:

 

 

People are craving for purpose and meaning in their work. Tap into this need as a way to engage and motivate employees. For example, a company that manufactured padlocks might emphasize that its products enable customers to live in a safe environment where their valuables are protected. Making people feel safer is a purpose that employees in any role can embrace.

Management must also give their employees more diversity and choice in their work. The gig economy has become so enticing, especially for prized contractors with in-demand skills, because people like having choice over their work and control over their time. They like having the autonomy to work on their own terms and in their own way.

Companies can provide a similar experience to their employees. Some companies have created an internal gig economy that allows employees to opt into projects that interest them. Tata Communications divided work streams into projects and created an internal market for this project-based work. Employees can opt-in to a project that interests them, or that provides an opportunity for learning or advancement, without relinquishing their full-time role. The internal gig approach gives employees agency, which creates an attractive work environment.

When given agency, people are often eager to choose challenging work opportunities that involve learning and career advancement. For example, when the pandemic hit, Bank of America had no Paycheck Protection Program loan department. It needed to respond rapidly to create a new capability. To optimize the talent, they had and move quickly, the company decided to upskill employees who were in roles that were side-lined during the pandemic. Those employees were energized and engaged by learning something new and contributing to the company’s success.

Especially in the knowledge economy, it is essential to give employees the ability to customize their own experience. One-sized experiences fit no one. Companies have little choice but to create irresistible employee experiences in a world where the employee is in charge and can leave your company for a different one more aligned with their values or expectations.

Companies that want to employ the best talent are in the experience-making game, whether they like it or not. Older businesspeople might find such talk to be too “touchy-feely”, but it’s now as practical as brass tacks. If you’re not leveraging your people’s passions and interests, creating opportunities for them to learn and grow, and making them feel valued, then you’re likely to lose them.

Your response to the Great Resignation starts with two questions: how can we connect our work to a wider purpose? And how can we provide the absolute best employee experience? It is now far too risky for your business to leave these questions unanswered.