Great Resignation or Great Reprioritization
Is it a Great Resignation or Great Reprioritization. This year, the questions on many leaders’ minds are “are my employees going to leave me?”
But to use a popular term: “Is a ‘Great Resignation’ in progress?” Are people really quitting their jobs at a scale and pace that we’ve never seen before? Is it the Great Resignation or Great Reprioritization?
Quit Rate
Around 4 million people quit their jobs in April. But the spike in the quit rate is partly due to pent-up demand. This is also on-trend with respect to the rising quit rate over the last ten years.
Isn’t it less important to know whether employees are considering leaving and more important to understand just why employees are considering leaving?
Worker Motivations to Leave
A sample of 233 full-time employees in a various industries were questioned. Each participant was asked: Assume that each workplace condition could be defined as “very bad.” As a result, they, responded in each category if they would a.) not begin a job search, b.) begin a passive job search, or c.) begin an active job search.
Three Causes
Below are three reasons that would most likely cause an employee to begin an active or passive search:
- Financial needs: The compensation is not competitive.
- Work–life balance: The work is so demanding you don’t have enough time or energy left to enjoy non-work activities.
- Remote work policies: Misalignment in remote work preferences and organizational policies.
Below are three reasons that would be the least likely to spur a job search:
- Lack of growth: There are limited opportunities to be challenged or learn something new.
- Inclusion or belonging: You don’t feel like part of the “in group” or you don’t feel like your uniqueness is appreciated.
- Social impact: You don’t connect with the value that your organization is offering to customers or society at large.
Active or Passive job search
Consequently, around one-third of the respondents said that if that category was very bad, they would begin a passive job search. If organizations are worried about actual turnover and not just passively searching, this is where they should start.
Leaving for financial needs or inequities isn’t new and will always play a role in turnover intentions. Terminations are inevitable. However, the fact that employees are putting just as much value on work–life balance and remote work policies is also relevant and revealing.
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