The great resignation is in full swing – what are your plans?

Close to 20 million US workers have quit their jobs since the start of April 2021. That is close to 3 million people per month. According to a report published by McKinsey, 36% of these people quit their jobs without having something else lined up. That is 1.08 million people per month quitting their jobs without knowing what they will be doing next. Staggering and unprecedented. The trend seems to particularly high among “essentials workers” – people that have been on the frontline since the pandemic started. Although their roles are considered essential, many of these people don’t feel like they are being treated as essential and are leaving in their droves.

Although it is not happening to the same extent in South Africa (yet), we have heard anecdotal evidence of people having left their current positions without a backup plan in mind. People are grieving, tired, uninspired and in need of dramatic change and most employers have no idea what to do about it!

The kneejerk reaction from most employers has been transactional in nature – increasing remuneration, benefits, and perks in order to hold on to their best people. From the employers perspective, people are resigning because of unmanageable workloads and the resulting work-life imbalance. In most instances the measures aimed at addressing these issues have not been effective at all. It seems there is misalignment between what employers think their people need and what they actually want.

We ran a short survey on LinkedIn recently and the feedback mirrors that what McKinsey found: employees are more likely to stay in jobs when the relational factors are strong. People are much less likely to leave a position when they feel valued by the organisation and their manager, they have a strong sense of belonging, they have caring and trustworthy teammates, see room for advancement in the organisation and have some sense of flexibility in how and when they work. In short, when people have a sense of purpose, work with people they care about and can see themselves making progress, they are more likely to stay with your organisation through thick and thin.

When skilled, experienced people leave, it places your organisation at risk and those that stay behind feel the pressure even more (placing them at greater risk of leaving if the other factors are not in place). Doing what you’ve always done is not likely to be effective in holding onto your best people if your approach has historically been transactional in nature. People want and expect more from their employers during these unprecedented times.

It is possible to create environments that people want to be a part of, even during the most difficult times. This is where we come in. PurposeWorks has developed a solution to enhance the experience of meaning, belonging and connection between your people, even while working remotely or in a hybrid way. We are convinced that work can rock. All of us should strive towards creating environments that bring the best out of ourselves and the people we work with.

To find out how you can Make Work Rock and keep your best people, get in touch at info@purposeworks.co.za.

At PurposeWorks we are all about Making You and Your Work Rock. Our focus is on Organisational Health and Design, Employee Centered Culture, Leadership Development and Performance Coaching. For more information on how we can help you create a work environment that rocks, develop a great team, become an inspiring leader or unlock your personal excellence talk to us at info@purposeworks.co.za.