Journalists and other wordsmiths frequently suffer from what I’ll call “coinage envy” — the sour wish that you had been the person who originated some particularly exquisite phrase or headline or bon mot that then enters common parlance. Like all reporters, I wish I had come up with the classic Daily News headline, “Headless Body in Topless Bar.” I also wish I had been the first person to say, “It is what it is,” and I bitterly regret not copyrighting the word “unprecedented” before the pandemic hit.
Of late, though, the phrase I’m wishing I had come up with is “the Great Resignation,” which was coined by Texas A&M management professor Anthony Klotz to describe what many fear will turn into a massive game of musical chairs in the job market, as huge numbers of employees leave their current jobs and look for new ones (or retire early), for reasons ranging from dissatisfaction with how their employers treated them during the pandemic and worries about how the return to work will be managed, to wanting to restructure and reprioritize their lives and careers as a result of COVID-induced introspection.
Some studies suggest that as much as 40% of the workforce is considering leaving their job now or as soon as the pandemic is more fully behind us. To be sure, plenty of observers question that figure, as well as all the others that are used to support the idea of the Great Resignation, but it’s hard to doubt the idea that the job market is tight for those looking to hire, and is only likely to get significantly tighter as the end of the pandemic gets closer and closer, as people feel more comfortable leaving the jobs that sheltered them over the past 15 or 16 months.
The accounting profession, which has struggled with recruiting and retention issues for over a decade, definitely can’t afford to ignore the potential for mass departures in the near future. That means that, rather than waiting for a stampede toward the exits, firm leaders should look to cut if off by taking some proactive steps:
- Find out how staff want to work post-pandemic. Survey your entire workforce about their likes and dislikes: Do they want to go back to the way things were before? Which of the pandemic-driven changes do they want to keep? What would they like to see done differently in the future? Incorporate their preferences into your post-pandemic plans as much as possible.
- Conduct stay interviews. Identify the people you least want to lose — whether they’re partner-potentials or critical admin staff — and then call them in to discuss their plans and preferences in greater depth. A big part of these interviews is signaling that they’re valuable to you and that you want them to stay, but you then need to prove it by acting on what they tell you.
- Share your plans. As you work on your strategies for exiting the pandemic, share your ideas with your employees with as much transparency as you can manage. Let them know what you’ve learned and what you’re planning to do differently, and give them a chance to give you some feedback.
- Give them as many options as you can. The most appealing model for employees is one where they get to choose whether to be full-time in the office, full-time remote, or some hybrid of the two. The more flexibility you can give them, the better — even if it means more management work for you.
Of course, bonuses, raises, promotions, and so on are as good for retention as they ever were, but even if the Great Resignation doesn’t fully materialize, firms are definitely going to want to be as proactive and creative as they can be to keep the staff they have.
In the meantime, I’ll be waiting for “coinage envy” to take off.
