Are your employees hurting?
Why people quit their jobs and how to stop them.
Without a doubt, you've now heard the phrase "the great resignation". But, is it just the over-hyped symptoms of an employment market in flux, or does it point to broader issues and lessons, particularly for small- to medium-sized business owners?
Let's cut to the chase: record numbers of people are changing jobs or thinking about changing jobs during the past year or so. In the United States, where this phenomenon was identified and earned is epaulette, it's reported that more than 19 million people have quit their jobs since April 2021.
According to research by NAB, more than 1 in 5 Australians have changed jobs within the last year, and almost 1 in 4 are considering leaving their current place of employment. After close to two years of COVID-19-related challenges, including juggling kids and video meetings while working from home, lockdowns, and the general anxiety around the pandemic, Australia, like so many countries, is facing its biggest labour-force mobility challenge since the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) started tracking labour mobility in 1972. Yes, the Great Resignation is here.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Understanding what is driving people to quit in droves will help you retain great people and attract top talent in a challenging labour market and help you avoid quick fixes that are nothing more than band-aid solutions to underlying issues.
The problem of employees quitting
When employees quit their jobs, it can be a huge problem for their former employer. Not only do they have to spend time and resources finding a replacement, but they may also lose out on crucial skills and knowledge that the departed employee possessed. Following the next logical step from quitting a job, employees looking for work often see opportunities to advance more quickly, taking on more senior roles than their experience would normally dictate. Their new company has to devote time and resources to training them for an adequate level. In some cases, an employee may even leave to join a competitor, taking valuable insights and contacts. Any of these problems create a drain on your business and its ability to remain competitive.
Causes of employee quitting
The critical insight from research into why people are quitting is that the standard and well-understood drivers, such as career advancement, compensation, and benefits, have been usurped mainly by the "human" aspects of work. "Push" rather than "pull" factors are driving employees to leave. Put another way, people are not being enticed to other jobs. They want to get out of their current position.
Poor work/life balance
Employees, particularly in big cities, are hurting. The NAB research points to mental health, work-life balance, and burnout as the "push" factors that make people feel they have no choice but to leave their current employer. If employees feel overwhelmed or stressed out, they may start looking for other jobs that offer more flexibility. COVID has had a major impact that cannot be ignored. The sense of isolation from lockdowns and the general anxiety about job security and family health is leaving many people without the emotional reserves to deal with a workplace where they feel they are unsupported or cannot switch off.
Unhappy with management
If employees are dissatisfied with their direct supervisor, they may start looking for other opportunities. The disruption to life caused by the pandemic and the subsequent hybrid working environments calls for a new set of management skills where extra effort is put into connecting with people, particularly remote workers, to understand their particular challenges and supporting them to feel part of a team. One client Stellar has been working with urged team members working from home to take lunchtime walks and post photos to a Teams chat of their pets, neighbourhoods, parks, having coffee, all aimed at encouraging employees to feel that their health and wellbeing matters.
Boredom or lack of challenge
If employees feel like their job is monotonous or not being challenged, they may start to look for something new. This point goes hand in glove with the need for a different approach for management because hybrid work environments are inclined to be task-driven and transactional. Firing off emails, allocating job tickets, or communicating via chat tools can make the recipient feel like a production-line worker rather than a valued contributor.
What employees want
This list would be incomplete without mentioning long-standing causes of a lack of training and development opportunities and compensation. Meaningful opportunities for development where employees feel like they're constantly learning and growing and competitive salaries are must-haves; they are what employees expect and, in the eyes of many employees, don't qualify as "benefits".
Understanding the critical drivers listed above puts leaders in a position to address the issues. Rather than a list of policies or shopping list of benefits, we can group the human aspects of what employees want into three main areas.
A Sense of Purpose
Feeling connected to the company's purpose is a powerful motivator. We've written about the subject earlier and view it as one of the most important building blocks of a successful business. A clear connection to purpose gives people – clients, employees, investors – something to believe in. When employees are aligned to the purpose, when it's relatable for them, and when they can see and feel what accomplishing that purpose looks like, they will enthusiastically work towards fulfilling it.
Purpose is central to the culture of the organisation. Just as purpose aligns people, how they go about achieving this each day through actions and behaviours creates a culture where people feel valued and want to contribute. Being known for your great culture helps carve out a market position in attracting and retaining top talent.
Social Connection
Employees want relationships. If there was any one phrase that had a double meaning and a long tail of unintended consequences during the pandemic, it was "social distancing". Some jurisdictions switched to "physical distancing" when the mental health impacts of social isolation began to emerge. While remote work may have helped businesses survive, workers should feel anything but "remote" when it comes to engagement with colleagues and the broader work environment. While noting the challenges that remain with COVID, the question is: what measures can you put in place that support an authentic and meaningful sense of community within the company?
To Feel Valued
This is broad: people want to feel valued by the organisation, colleagues, and managers. That means recognition and reward at every level of the business. Managers need to be equipped with the human skills to regularly look for and highlight great work. More than saying "thank you", managers can highlight why it was great work. At an organisational level, feeling valued means having benefits aligned with current needs and expectations. Flexible work arrangements and other personal and family-focussed benefits are highly sought after, arguably more valued than cash bonuses. While salaries are a necessary part of the mix, creative offerings such as additional leave entitlements can be a way for smart companies to provide value for employees.
Addressing these must-haves
While it's normal for people to change careers or look for new opportunities, there are ways to stop employees from quitting their jobs and leaving their workplace during unprecedented shifts in the labour market. Turning attrition into attraction starts with recognising the situation is real and taking steps to help employees have a sense of purpose, social connection, and feeling valued.
