For business owners, the challenges of the past couple of years have been something out of a disaster movie. But, as always – there have been winners and losers and while the economy is slowly starting to kick-start back into something resembling pre-Covid levels, work from home industries and the rise in self-employed persons are driving new and exciting industries.
But, the law of unintended consequences has once again played its hand, and while companies moved fast to allow their workers to work from home or adopt more flexible working hours in an attempt to minimize close contact with other people, what has actually happened is that vast amounts of workers have realized that “the daily grind”, is just not worth it anymore.
So what does this mean for you as a business owner? How do you keep your staff on board in a world where millions of workers have simply downed tools, and how do you make a difference in the lives of your workers?
Let’s unpack some of those questions.
WHAT IS THE GREAT RESIGNATION?
According to STATISTA, “In the wake of the unprecedented jobs crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new trend has emerged in the U.S. labor market, as more and more Americans are quitting their jobs. According to the latest JOLTS report, a record number of 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation.”
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR BUSINESS?
While workers’ rights activists are hailing the Great Resignation as a victory for workers, those who choose to remain in employment are feeling the burn – and not in a good way. As millions of workers down tools, the strain of the workload has to be split between those who remain, as employers are finding it increasingly difficult to fill vacant positions.
This in turn is raising fears of a second wave of mass resignations, and that could spell disaster for businesses across the United States. After all, we all want to think of new ways to improve our operational processes and objectives.
What this means, is that employers have started to take employee retention more seriously than they have in years. In the United Kingdom, starting salaries for entry-level jobs are at an all-time high and this trend is making it “across the pond” to the United States too.
EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN AMERICA
Employee retention programs used to be what headhunters and recruitment specialists would hang over the heads of über qualified and senior team members to stop them from jumping ship for the competition. However companies are now having to rethink that strategy completely as turns out, one cannot run a company solely with top management.
Companies are investing heavily in employee engagement strategies and rethinking how they expect their workers to deliver on KPA’s and job descriptions. Not that long ago, less than 10% of American workers would leave their posts every year, that figure has skyrocketed in 2021 to a staggering 45% and as high as 51% according to some sources.
This means that the future landscape of the American worker is set to be more equitable and far more flexible than it’s ever been, and that has got to be good news.
