The great resignation: Why leaders need to listen, not just hear.

Workers are leaving their jobs

Around the world, workers are leaving their jobs in record numbers, in America the problem is so acute that it has its own trending hashtag, #thegreatresignation. In April this year, the US recorded more than four million people quitting their jobs, according to a summary from the Department of Labor. This represents the biggest spike on record.

A Microsoft survey of more than 30,000 global workers showed that 41% of workers were considering quitting or changing professions in 2021, and a study of workers in the UK and Ireland showed 38% of those surveyed planned to quit in the next six months to a year.

Readdressing work-life balance

Is this trend a response to the pandemic or a symptom of something deeper? Let’s face it, full-time work occupies a significant number of our waking hours. Add to this commuting time, which for many can be around an hour at the start and end of each day, we spend a great deal of our life in and commuting to, work.

Working from home stress-tested us all; families were suddenly plunged into living, working and home-schooling together for months on end. Many city dwellers noticed that things were greener on the other side of the fence and voted with their feet, heading for the coast or countryside and this was reflected in price spikes in these locations.

Wherever we lay our hat may be home but when you are couped up together 24x7 that home can suddenly feel quite small and confining. That could be one reason for the rise in shed sales, where space is a premium, even a run of the mill shed looks attractive.

Worker rebellion for the modern workforce

The data shows that for many employees, lockdown prompted a life re-think. A recent study conducted to determine why job changers left their previous roles, showed that 40% of employees cited burnout as their top reason for leaving their job.  

In many respects, the pandemic poured petrol on an already lit fire. Workers are rebelling against woeful leadership that focuses on presenteeism over productivity, dictatorial managers, and tone-deaf companies that refuse to pay well and take advantage of their staff. No longer can companies wheel in a table tennis table into the staff room and hope that’s enough.

Workers have taken a step back and reassessed; Covid provided an opportunity for employees to reflect on their role, whether their skills are being put to good use, and explore a sense of their own value.

Pre-pandemic, companies focused on offering the ultimate office experience, with nice coffee machines and breakout rooms with sofas and gaming consoles. But this didn’t count for much when we all suddenly had to work from home. The capability of managers to manage and communicate effectively was exposed.

The way forward

The veneer has been stripped and it’s a good thing. Companies can stop focusing on office fripperies and address gaps that the pandemic has harshly exposed. The benefit is that these are areas of substance that will make a positive difference to company culture and productivity. Companies need to trigger a sea change and that starts with asking some tough questions about current company culture.

  • Leadership: Employees want to be part of something bigger and that starts with leaders who set a clear vision for the business which is linked to meaningful goals for each employee. Leaders need to know how to lead well, have organisational insight and make timely, bold decisions. They need to be able to simplify organisational treacle and set the right environment in which their people can flourish.

  • Management: People are promoted into management roles because they have the right technical skills for the department they manage. What is forgotten too often is soft skills. Does the manager have the capability to manage their team well? Do they realise that being promoted into a managerial position is a cross-functional move? Has their capability kept pace with their role? Is there learning & development support in place?

  • Team members’ engagement and motivation: Have they been developed well? Do they fit in their role or are they a square peg in a round hole? Have they had the right long term career planning support and personal capability development along the way?

The UK has a labour shortage and a skills gap; the pendulum has swung in the employee’s favour. How a company treated its people over the last year and a half will determine the course of the future. Investing in the learning, development and overall wellbeing of your workforce is not only good for staff retention, but it also makes good business sense. It creates a culture of engaged and motivated employees who feel part of the bigger picture and are resilient to weather whatever storm may lay ahead.

Hybrid Working Programmes

We’ve had plenty of enquiries in the Treehouse about our tailored Hybrid Working training programmes. New and existing clients are looking for programmes to help their business adapt; some are looking for short programmes to focus on leaders, whilst others are looking for longer programmes to support managers or team members.

Take a look at some examples of our tailored hybrid working programmes.

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