Is the 'Great Resignation' really happening?

So, is the “Great Resignation” really happening? Are employees really leaving their jobs en masse after months of upheaval during the pandemic?

Some surveys would suggest so. Workhuman recently found that nearly four in 10 people (38 per cent) are planning to look for a job in the next 12 months. That contrasts with a December 2019 survey that found 92 per cent of workers expected to be in their role for at least one year and 59 per cent said they planned to be in their role for five or more years.

In looking at more than 30,000 people in 31 countries, Microsoft similarly found that 41 per cent of the global workforce could be considering a departure.

Employees – more than ever – are calling the shots, says Christian Cook, associate professor of human resources at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

“We've had economic downturns in the past, and people have just said, ‘Well, I need to suck it up and I need a job.’ And now I don't think that people are willing to put up with some of the bad behaviours from employers that they have in the past.”

The great resignation is really happening, says Philip Hatcher, head of marketing at Sprout at Work, a corporate health tech company in Toronto.

“At the core of it is really the values realignment that a lot of people are having… employees today are realizing that it's not just about salary, there are other things that play into where they work,” he says.

Expectations have changed: “We're really not seeing as much of a labour shortage as a labour protest. Individuals have, for the first time in a very long time, more power in this relationship with their employer,” says Hatcher.

Staff who say they received good support from their employers amid the health crisis are far less likely (25 per cent) to view their personal experience of the pandemic as mostly or entirely negative compared with those who received little or no support (49 per cent), according to Mercer.

Re-evaluating priorities, preferences

So, why are so many people considering a job or career change? For one, there were many employees who were in a job that they didn't love, and have now had their eyes open to a lot of opportunities out there, he says.

“For organizations that are rebounding from what happened during the pandemic, there are there are a lot of jobs available… People just putting their foot in the water to test ‘Is there a better opportunity out there? Is there a better fit for me?’”

Some people have managed to turn a hobby or side hustle into a lucrative job, says Cook, thinking: “I'm actually making enough money, I'm at home with the kids, I don't have to commute for an hour-and-a-half a day.”

Plus, with the stresses of COVID, many people are deciding their life is too short to stay in a job they hate or with a manager who doesn’t treat them well.

There's always been this psychological contract business where people thought their employer respected their loyalty if they worked hard. But with the mass layoffs and cutbacks of the pandemic, that changed, she says.

“We saw low performers, high performers, mid range – everybody was impacted. And so the idea that ‘You'll be safe,’ for a lot of people, they [now are thinking] ‘If I'm not safe anyway, why am I doing something I don't love?’”

At the start of the pandemic, people were also fearful of losing their jobs so they were literally working around the clock, says Cook.

“For some, that might have pushed them just to say, ‘This is not what life's supposed to be,’” she says. “In a lot of cases, the stress and burnout for some people was just too much.”

As the pandemic continues, the average employee engagement score has dropped 18 per cent compared to last year, and workplace culture has seen major drops in other areas, according to a report from O.C. Tanner.

Start with flexibility

Many employees have come to appreciate the benefit of working from home, so if their employer is looking at a full-time or less-than-flexible return to the office, that will mean turnover.

“Some organizations do need people physically present but for those organizations that have learned that they can still operate and even be successful in a remote or hybrid environment, forcing people back to work will force those employees to evaluate their job and they may look for another,” says Hatcher.

That often comes down to the issue of trust, he says.

“If you're an employee and you don't feel like you're trusted, that's not a positive experience. And if you're an employer and you don't trust your employees… you may want to take a step back and reevaluate the organizational culture.”

When it comes to possible solutions to combat the “great resignation,” flexibility is key, but it’s not an easy solution, says Cook.

“We’ve got to have flexibility within our flexibility; it doesn't mean the same for everybody. For some, it means ‘I actually want to be on site for six hours and I want to do my other two hours in the afternoons’ or ‘I want to work a four-day week, but compressed and longer hours.’ When we talk about flexibility these days, people make the leap that we’re either at home or not at home, and there's a whole bunch of other things that come into play.”

Mental health supports matter

Another big factor are declines in mental health. As we transition into whatever that new normal is going to be, employers need to make sure staff understand that they're not expected to work 12-hour days, says Hatcher.

“If we continue to push people in the same way that we have been for the last 18 months, we will continue to see burnout. And there has to be a reevaluation for every organization of ‘How can we make sure that our employees are getting the support and assistance that they need?’”

Benefits such as employee assistance programs (EAPs) are often not well-known by employees, so it’s about making sure that they understand what's available, he says.

And while digital health care benefits can play a huge role in supporting employees, open communication channels and clear, outlined expectations should be “baked into the organizational culture… so that everybody knows what they're working on, whether you're remote, hybrid or in the office,” says Hatcher.

“Practise what you preach: If you’re going to preach about people prioritizing their mental health, ensure that you are prepared to support them; ensure that people managers are prepared to support them,” says Amy Deacon, founder of Toronto Wellness Counselling in Toronto.

Enriching employee communications

In change management, business decisions should get communicated from the top of the organization, but the people impact of the business decisions should be done by managers, says Cook.

“That's where we've had a big gap… we've done a good job of explaining the ‘what’ and the protocols, but when people are choosing to leave, I don't think that we've done a sufficient job of getting under the ‘why.’”

Employers and HR should really investigate why people are leaving, because that’s going to vary. So too are possible solutions to entice people to stay, such as offering a three-month sabbatical or a pilot project that can be done from home, she says.

“It's difficult right now to put in place something that's like a new forever plan, with so much in flux, but as people are starting to come back, employers should look at both their business needs and employee needs, and try to meet the conditions for both.”

And the best plans are those that are co-created with employees, says Cook: “I know that sounds like a ton of work, but if you get it right, that'll really pay off.”

In some cases, managers have been too busy “firefighting” COVID or they've been too uncomfortable to have the conversations with their teams, she says.

“We need to be connecting with employees and letting them know that they matter, as to their contributions; they matter as a person; we're trying to do what works for them and us,” she says. “We hear a lot about [HR] programs but even the most platinum program, if it doesn't fit your organizational culture and if you're not connecting with your employees, I'm concerned about that.”