Is the “Great Resignation” Coming to Your Company Soon?

Are you noticing that a greater number of your employees have started leaving you?

If they haven’t already, they soon may start: just 30% of employees surveyed recently said they planned to stay with their current employers post-pandemic.

Why the potential exodus?

Several theories have popped up.

• Many workers were quite unhappy with their jobs pre-pandemic. The pandemic made many people stop and think about what’s really important in life, and staying in a terrible, no-good, low-paying position — or even one that pays well –  with a demanding boss didn’t make the cut.
• Others said they would leave if their employers didn’t offer more flexible schedules, particularly the option to work remotely at least a few days per week. This may, in fact, already be happening as some employers are demanding a return to working full-time on-site.
• Pent-up demand left over from the before-times. “Just before the pandemic, you had about 3.5 million people leaving their jobs monthly, then that dropped to 1.9 million in April 2020. The projected number for December [2021] is 3.3 million.”

Yet this “turnover tsunami,” as SHRM has dubbed it, could end up being more or less so depending on two factors:

Education and salary level

Those with at least a college degree (40%) are more likely to stick around than folks with a high school degree (or less).

40% of people with annual household incomes of $100K or more are more likely to stay with their current employers as the economy opens, while 26% of those in households with less than $100K in income were likely to stay put.

Age and gender also could be a factor

Men (34%) are more likely to stay with their employer than women (27%), while 22% of people age 18-34 are more likely to start looking rather those aged 35 and up (8%).

Keeping the talent you want

So what are some of the things you could do to keep employees – especially top talent – from leaving for your competitors?

• Raise salaries.

Restaurants and other hospitality entities can’t find people to work right now. Don’t think this couldn’t happen to you.

Make sure you’re paying “a proper market rate right now,” or you risk losing your top talent. This means you’ll have to replace them with people at a higher market rate anyway. “Boost your employees’ salaries now and save the hassle.”

• Before making any decision regarding remote or no-remote, ask your employees what they want.

Deciding to stay remote, go hybrid or bring everyone back to the office without employee input can feel entirely arbitrary to employees, not to mention that it screams “I don’t care what YOU WANT!!!” in a fashion that practically propels people to think you may not be their employer of choice.

Instead, survey your employees, both those who work remotely and those who work on-site. Ask them what they love and dislike about their situation, no matter whether they’re home or at the office.

And then, if at all possible, provide them the where-they-work location they prefer, at least part-time.

And, remember: even if you REALLY want them back all the time and are worried how full-time remote work will pan out, take some comfort in the fact that humans absolutely crave contact with others. What’s more, full-time remote workers may be more willing to return at least part-time to the office as they come to miss the collegiality of the workplace (if not also the possibility that they will be passed over for promotions more than their in-house colleagues).

Replacing talent that leaves

If your IT or finance/accounting employees leave you because they can make more money elsewhere, or another company will let them remain in Idaho full-time, we can help rebuild your team.

Take a look at just a few of the folks currently in our talent roster, and let us know if one or more look interesting.

You also – of course! – may contact us any time to discuss your workforce staffing needs.