The Great Resignation… will your business feel the impact?

70% of FindYourFlex users polled between the 5th & 12th of July 2021 are CURRENTLY EMPLOYED and are pro-actively seeking MORE FLEXIBLE employment opportunities.

Last month a staggering 4 million people in the US quit their jobs (US Labor Department). This is the highest number since records began in December 2000. 

Interestingly but not surprisingly, more than 740k worked in the leisure and hospitality industry. This includes jobs in hotels, bars and restaurants, theme parks and other entertainment venues. Noticeably all employers who have been impacted most by changes to lockdowns, mask wearing, furloughs and availability of shifts. However, that still leaves a whooping 3.3M people resigning from the more ‘covid resilient’ sectors.

What is causing this great resignation and is the same happening here in the UK?

A study in the UK, has found a lot of people (38% of those currently employed) are seriously thinking about quitting OR are looking to change roles in the next year.

The cause is unknown. Could we assume it is a temporary rebound from people deciding to hold on to their jobs during the pandemic? Or is something more permanent on the horizon?

Perhaps people are finding they’re unhappy with how they’ve been handled during the pandemic? Perhaps having the flexibility people have grown to love, is now being revoked as they approach the ‘great return’? Or, is it simply burnout?

The Find Your Flex team have always said that an employees' alignment with company culture, behaviours and values, will become increasingly important. For some, it's the key driver in deciding where they work. 

So which is the right answer?

Well, in our opinion it's probably a combination of the above but, this mass resignation tells us that the balance of power has shifted. 

The Personio study of 2,000 employees found that there’s a worrying disconnect between employers’ perception of what will encourage their staff to leave and employees’ reality. 

Reinforcing this, and according to a recent report from Microsoft 

• 41% of the global workforce is considering leaving their jobs. 
• One in five of the global survey respondents say their employer doesn’t care about their work-life balance. 
• 54% feel overworked. 
• 39% feel exhausted. 
• And trillions of productivity signals from Microsoft 365 quantify the precise ‘digital exhaustion’ workers are feeling.

However, the findings of the Personio study found that HR decision makers underestimate the pushing power of a toxic workplace culture. Instead, HR decision makers believed factors such as furlough, being asked to go back to the office full-time or a reduction in benefits would have the biggest influence on an employee's leaving.

As we are currently seeing on jobs.findyourflex.co.uk this July, 70% of job seekers are employees who are exercising their right to choose for who, where and how they work.  

The next move for employers is a no brainer 

Treat employees fairly and take a long hard look at your company values, culture and behaviours. 

• If you are one of the businesses saying - what is this great resignation? We love our staff and we are a team. Then fabulous - get in touch so we can shout your story from the (virtual) rooftops.
• If you are nodding your head in agreement and your organisation has seen high rates of attrition then perhaps we need to dig deeper. We need to find solutions that will help you realign your company values and flexible working policies in order to attract and retain talent.

So what of the remaining 30% of jobseekers, not currently in employment?

Research from the CIPD and Office of National Statistics in June, reflects the biggest impact on joblessness has been on our older workforce. This trend has been happening since January 21' on our platform, with the 45+ age group growing to 30% of our audience share. The research however fails to show the impact that Covid amplified by automation, has also made, on the younger generations and specifically for women throughout the last 18 months. 

So with those audience groups in mind, along with the UK’s appetite to build back with a focus on greater diversity and inclusivity, we really must use this time to look at realigning our businesses values & flexibility on offer.

If businesses don't know how to implement flexibility in their workforce, the easiest thing to do is to create each role as an output. Promoting and monetising a workforce in this way allows businesses to finally move their employees from a 'fixed cost - liability' to a 'variable cost - asset'. It will show you for the first time how really flexible you can afford to be.

I'm happy to talk to any business who wants to know more.

My final thoughts...

I think many of us have felt burnt out emotionally and physically over the last 18 months. Now that we can get out more and start to work in more places, it will become vitally important to become more healthy about work. Wellbeing, balance, culture and value driven behaviours have got to take centre stage in the future of work.

Cheney Hamilton - Founder and CEO, The Find Your Flex Group