Back in 2020, a freshly raging pandemic caused the world to hunker down and (to the extent possible) huddle indoors as infection and fear permeated the air. In a society paralyzed by potentially lethal circumstances, resignation rates at first fell to the lowest levels in a decade.
But as it turns out, struggling to make ends meet while faced with our collective mortality became a call to action. Staying put actually triggered workers worldwide to reconsider their professional circumstances and prioritize.
Which is how we now have come to face an unprecedented Great Resignation that has reshaped the world of work. Particularly prevalent in the U.S., where millions of people have quit their jobs during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, historic records have been shattered month after month. Since the spring of 2021, roughly 33 million Americans have handed in a resignation letter.
But people aren’t just leaving their jobs. They’re reorganizing their priorities and reconfiguring their careers; they’re having “pandemic epiphanies.”
“For talented individuals, in high-demand industries like tech, we’re seeing a lot of movement,” notes Anthony Klotz, the Texas A&M professor who coined the phrase “Great Resignation” in May 2021. “People are finding jobs that give them the right pay, benefits, and work arrangements in the long term.” He describes it as people now fitting work into their lives, rather than having lives that squeeze into their work.
The Great Resignation has left no industry untouched — including the accounting profession, which saw a remarkably high turnover rate in 2021. What does all this mean for employers in our profession? How can leaders help their firms thrive and retain their people?
In the timeless see-saw of supply and demand, the demand for talent is now at an all-time high, as a lower supply of candidates are now choosing from a myriad of opportunities and holding out for the set-ups they want. Some are opting for remote, flexible, mobile, and meaningful work; others are sticking to more traditional environments but with the stipulation of higher pay.
The battle for talent has always been real. Now it’s urgent, and it has transformed into a corporate culture war.
Revamping retention practices
The coronavirus shed light on several workforce challenges that would soon translate into reasons for dropping out of the workforce. These reasons we’re seeing are varied and layered, ranging from health and safety concerns or lack of adequate childcare to burnout or an insufficient living wage.
One survey of 900+ American workers highlighted some leading causes of the Big Quit across different demographics: low salaries (67%), limited career opportunities (66%), feeling unvalued by their managers (65%), strained relationships with colleagues (64%), and inadequate pandemic health measures (64%). Other causes included poor employee benefits, wanting to change industries, negative interactions with customers, being forced to work on-site after working remotely, and seeing other colleagues quit.
The same survey noted that the top factors that attracted people to other jobs were: flexible working practices (77%), a better salary (77%), better benefits (77%), more stable work (77%), more meaningful work (75%), and career growth prospects (74%).
Employers may see it as the Great Resignation, but to workers, they’re simply manifesting their own Great Reconfiguration to a job that suits them more, aided by the backdrop of a competitive market with a growing number of job openings.
Bracing your firm
Such a shift in the labor market has pushed companies to offer better benefits and higher salaries, hoping to slow employee turnover and entice new personnel. As a formula, it’s simple. To attract or keep employees — to create or maintain an attractive environment — know what people want and provide it. Make win-win scenarios. Push company culture to the forefront. Prioritize your employees and they’re that much more likely to return the gesture.
Of course, such things aren’t always easy in practice. But taking proactive measures — and doing damage control when needed — will give you a competitive edge. Here are some best practices that will bring culture to the forefront and help your firm flourish in the year ahead.
1. Do your research. It's essential to know your own company from the inside out. What do your current employees and prospective employees desire? Spend one-on-one time getting to know their concerns and needs. Conduct regular surveys and evaluations that encourage your people to voice their opinions. Establish touch-points to address issues before they become breaking points and find ways to cultivate trust and communication that permeates your organization.
2. Offer options. The unprecedented situation of the pandemic triggered an unprecedented set of work solutions, including remote work, more flexible hours, and hybrid schedules, which in turn enabled a greater work-life balance for many people. Workers realized those advantages and are opting for organizations that can cater to this new normal.
As the pandemic continues and even when it ebbs, many leading corporations (e.g., Apple, Twitter, Shopify, Upwork, LinkedIn, Siemens, etc.) have chosen hybrid and/or fully remote models to address this exact demand, and lots of smaller corporations are following suit. These types of models don’t just benefit workers — organizations are able to tap into a wider talent pool that isn’t geographically limited, decrease operating costs, and reduce unscheduled absences.
The concerns about these kinds of environments — like employee disengagement, unclear deliverables, and tracking work progress — are elements that would persist anyway in unhealthy work environments, and can be countered by fostering a stronger corporate culture.
3. Manage schedules based on needs. As work models and schedules change, mentalities must also shift. “It’s essential that your management team allows for your staff to take charge of their schedules to ensure that they work at times that function well for them and the organization,” advises Josh Jeans, people operations strategist at Summit CPA Group.
To succeed in this, refrain from micromanaging, set clear and reasonable expectations for employee online presence, encourage employee creation and adherence to individual working hours, prioritize a 40-hour work week to avoid burnout, and avoid last-minute meetings as much as possible.
4. Provide competitive benefits. Competitive benefits include great compensation, but they certainly don’t end there. Great benefits should reflect your corporate culture and prove how much you value your employees as people. Remember that experiences make memories, and memories spark joy. Some ideas include:
- Distribute annual education and technology stipends to further employees’ personal development;
- Create and support internal mobility programs — upskill, reskill, and invest in current employee growth;
- Generate an inviting — but not mandatory — work environment. Things like free lunch, specialty coffees, more comfortable furniture help encourage colleagues to connect and brainstorm. (There’s only so much creativity a Zoom call can inspire.);
- Provide an all-expenses-paid day trip or weekend family trip to somewhere like a spa, ski resort, etc. that allows time away from work and rejuvenating of employees’ batteries; and,
- Provide personalized gifts on special days (holidays, work anniversaries, birthdays).
Many workers are waking up to what the best CEOs already knew: Company culture is a make-or-break issue, and the best companies are those where people are given the tools and environment to flourish.
A healthy culture is no longer negotiable — not for employees, and not for employers. And in 2022, it’ll be a key determinant of employee retention and sustainable company success.
