The Great Resignation is here. Are you ready for it?
When I first heard the term, "The Great Resignation" I immediately thought the phrase was a play on “The Great Recession” but I didn’t quite know what the conversation was about.
But then I saw the term come up again and again and again in the public conversation, so I leaned in to try to understand what it means and what it means in this moment.
I discovered, “The Great Resignation” is not a trend, it’s a movement.
Publicly and privately, we at Bonavox have talked a lot about how unsettled people are in their jobs as we emerge from the pandemic. The Great Resignation is really just the logical outcome of that fear and uncertainty. American workers are leaving their jobs at unprecedented rates. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 4 million people in the U.S. voluntarily quit their jobs in April 2021; the highest monthly number ever reported.
This is not a drill.
The COVID-19 pandemic afforded many people the opportunity to take a step back and to assess their outlook on the intersectionality of their work-life and life-life. Personal satisfaction and a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves have moved from the back of people’s minds to the very front.
And, thus, The Great Resignation. Americans are leaving their jobs in record numbers and in many cases not looking back. What were formally expectations have become requirements for professional contentment.
“But strangely, early signs of what the post-COVID world will look like show many companies reverting back to doing business the way they always have.”
To be clear, these expectations are broad -- a desire for empathetic managers, remote work, flexible schedules, and diversity have gone from wishes to demands. These expectations are not new. But strangely, early signs of what the post-COVID world will look like show many companies reverting back to doing business the way they always have.
At Bonavox, we believe that companies that do not adapt to this change will soon be struggling to attract and retain the best workers -- or in some cases any workers at all. From fast food to logistics, companies are having trouble filling jobs for which there used to be seemingly an endless line of candidates.
Welcome to the talent war
There is a war for talent and at this moment, the market belongs to the employees. Deep thinkers of every stripe have noticed this wave of resignations, and many say that when all is said and done roughly a quarter of workers are ready to leave their jobs. According to Forbes, this stat increases to one-third of millennials.
There is a war for talent and at this moment, the market belongs to the employees. Deep thinkers of every stripe have noticed this wave of resignations, and many say that when all is said and done roughly a quarter of workers are ready to leave their jobs. According to Forbes, this stat increases to one-third of millennials.
So what can companies do to weather the storm?
Like previous dislocations in the employer/employee balance, the only way to navigate this moment in time is through transformation. We believe company leaders will need to take new and unconventional approaches to meet the needs of a rapidly changing workforce. An obvious place to begin is embracing new ways of working that are flexible enough for a workforce that is not positively inclined to jump into the way-back machine and pretend it’s 2019 all over again.
Companies will also need to assess their culture; the myriad things that shape their unspoken identity and do a health-check to see if their culture meets the current desires and demands of the American workforce. Change can be intimidating, even paralyzing. To companies struggling with navigating this new wave of worker expectations, I think about what President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt said in his first inaugural address to a country in the middle of the Great Depression, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
It’s clear why leaders want people back in the office. It supports their workstyle -- full cubicles, an office hum, impromptu meetings, welcoming smiles. But if leaders don’t heed the message of the labor market, there will be new meaning to the old adage that it’s lonely at the top.
It’s clear why leaders want people back in the office. It supports their workstyle -- full cubicles, an office hum, impromptu meetings, welcoming smiles. But if leaders don’t heed the message of the labor market, there will be new meaning to the old adage that it’s lonely at the top.
