The so-called Great Resignation has seen employees voluntarily leaving their jobs at record rates over the past couple years. As a business leader, excessive turnover can severely impact your organization across factors like:
- Productivity: Loss of firm-specific institutional knowledge and continuity impedes output. Declines over 35% have been benchmarked (Gallup)
- Revenue: High vacancy periods strain capacity while new hires onboard, translating directly to 20%+ topline drops (Work Institute)
- Intangibles: Culture erosion as disillusioned employees exit erodes brand identity and platform for innovation
- Leadership: Necessary emphasis on stemming exits rather than strategic progress strains executives and distracts the board
Analysis by Harvard Business Review suggests this trend is not merely a short-term blip but rather the culmination of deeper, longer-term shifts in the labor force attitudes and desires:
Through the 2010s we experienced a rise in the percentage of employees quitting their job voluntarily. What has changed now is that quitting has accelerated after the pandemic for reasons like increased availability of remote work options that better support work-life balance (source).
Let‘s dive into the core drivers, scale and breadth of this phenomenon, before detailing targeted, data-backed strategies to combat resignations and empower your workforce.
Understanding the Great Resignation Landscape
The severity of ongoing talent exodus should not be underestimated – Deloitte found in late 2022 surveys that 75% of CEOs see current turnover levels as the number one short term threat to their business.
Pivot data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms resignation rates accelerating rapidly since early 2020:
Resignations spiking to unprecedented highs through the pandemic period (BLS)
A recent PwC survey further found that 1 in 5 workers still plan to voluntarily switch employers in the next 12 months, suggesting this is not merely aCOVID-driven blip but a durable trend:
Our data shows that globally, the probability of employees looking to switch employers in the next 12 months has reached historical highs across almost all territories and generations. (PwC Research)
This magnitude of churn carries tangible consequences. Gallup estimates that replacing a departed employee costs 1.5-2X their annual salary when considering recruiting, training, and ramp up time. With average turnover rates estimated at 15% (Gallup), containment delivers material savings especially for large enterprises.
Drivers and Motivations Behind the Trend
While pandemic impacts may have been an accelerant, Harvard Business Review analysis suggests resignation drivers are complex and predate recent events:
Through the 2010s we experienced a rise in the percentage of employees quitting their job voluntarily. What has changed now is that quitting has accelerated after the pandemic for reasons like increased availability of remote work options that better support work-life balance (source).
Nonetheless, COVID-19 has been an undeniable catalyst through impacts like:
- Increased demand for flexible remote/hybrid arrangements
- Health risks necessitating career shifts
- Forced lifestyle changes leading more people to rethink work-life balance
An Edelman Trust Barometer study found widespread dissatisfaction among both white collar and blue collar workers. Further PwC analysis reveals the trend is broad-based across industries and demographic groups rather than isolated:
Outsized resignation intent spanning generations (PwC Research)
This data underscores how resignation sentiment has permeated across workforce strata. As such, targeted retention initiatives carry potential for outsized impact by stemming exits across the enterprise.
1. Augment Productivity with Intelligent Automation
Since the available talent supply is contracting amidst growing workflow volumes, improving workforce productivity is imperative for maintaining delivery capacity and consistency for customers. Here, intelligent automation presents a major opportunity through benefits like:
- Alleviating repetitive tasks so employees can focus on higher-impact work
- Maintaining output capacity amidst vacant positions and recruitment lag
- Providing continuity in operations through times of transition
- Enabling scalability to support spikes in business demand
Consider automation use cases across functions:
| Business Function | Automation Use Case |
|---|---|
| Finance | Invoice processing, report generation |
| IT | Password resets, hardware diagnostics |
| Customer Service | FAQ responses, appointment scheduling |
| Marketing | Lead scoring, email campaign creation |
| Supply Chain | Inventory monitoring, shipment routing |
According to Deloitte, early adopters of intelligent automation have realized benefits like (source):
- 17% average increase in productivity
- 92% faster processing times
- 33% improvement in employee experience through reduced burnout
Recommendations
When exploring automation, consider solutions like:
RPA: Software bots that mimic human actions to automate repetitive digital tasks like data entry. Setup time is faster relative to custom coding.
Intelligent RPA: RPA enhanced with AI/ML to handle unstructured data like images and complex workflows requiring contextual understanding
Digital Workers: Support employees via messaging platforms by interpreting data, writing documents, monitoring systems. Easy interaction maximizes user adoption
For more information, see our detailed guides on realizing the benefits of digital workers and best practices for implementation.
2. Boost Brand and Retention with ESG Focus
With many employees and candidates seeking purpose and ethical alignment in their work, there is opportunity to further differentiate your employer value proposition through an increased focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
An Edelman Trust Barometer study found a widespread perception that businesses are not doing enough to address pressing societal issues like climate change and systemic inequality:
With roughly 50% expecting more policy action across hot button areas like climate change, economic inequality, and healthcare access, there is substantial room for improvement and brand differentiation.
Strengthening ESG posture directly links to positive talent outcomes according to Marsh McLennan – benefits they found include (report):
- 15% average increase in employee satisfaction
- 25% expanded talent pipeline through improved university recruiting
Moreover, younger generations tend to prioritize purpose and social impact more when selecting employers. With Gen Z expected to comprise 70% of the workforce by 2030, ethical brand values will only increase in talent retention power over time.
Tactical Steps
Specific tactics to reinforce ESG commitment include:
Environment
- Measure and reduce carbon emissions from operations and supply chain
- Audit emissions across product lifecycles
- Transition to circular economy models that reuse resources
Social
- Eliminate discriminatory policies and close unfair pay gaps
- Provide inclusive health benefits and upskilling opportunities
- Cultivate an ethical and safe workplace
Governance
- Appoint chief diversity officers and sustainability heads
- Set ethical sourcing standards for suppliers
- Audit and report on diversity KPIs like pay equity
McKinsey analysis of corporate sustainability programs found that initiatives with executive-level ownership and bonuses tied to KPIs had 60% higher completion rates versus baseline. This underscores that dedication must permeate all levels of leadership.
For more best practices, see our guides on ESG reporting and the circular economy.
3. Embrace Flexible and Remote Work Models
The pandemic necessitated a global remote work experiment – one that has largely succeeded by most measures. Surveys indicate most employees now actually prefer hybrid or permeant remote arrangements:
- Over 80% want a hybrid model with 1-2 days working from home per week (Accenture)
- More than 35% will quit if no remote option is provided (HBR)
Anonymous polling of our own employees echo a strong preference for flexibility:
"Being in the office full time feels like a relic of the past – I‘ve never been more productive since working from home."
"With hybrid arrangements, I can take advantage of focused working time at home as well as in-person collaboration time."
Pivot data also suggests most organizations have seen a positive or neutral impact on productivity over the past two years of predominantly remote work:
Most knowledge workers have maintained or improved productivity working remotely (BCG)
Enabling flexible arrangements does necessitate addressing potential cybersecurity and communication risks that can emerge with distributed teams. However, solutions like zero trust network access, SD-WAN, and cloud-based collaboration tools help mitigate these concerns.
See our guides on best practices for secure remote work and maintaining visibility with distributed teams.
Additional Recommendations
Beyond the core strategies above, our analytics identified other approaches that correlate strongly with retention:
Revisiting Compensation
With inflationary pressures and rising competition, ensuring pay remains aligned to current market rates is essential:
- Leverage salary benchmarking data to validate competiveness
- Structure bonuses and LTI plans to share success
- Be proactive rather than relying solely on employees to negotiate
Continuous Listening
With a dynamic landscape, continue monitoring data and sentiment through:
- Pulsed engagement surveys
- Exit interview analysis
- Anonymous hotlines for candid feedback
These supplementary tactics account for emerging variables that propel resignation decisions amidst a turbulent decade.
In closing, mitigating the Great Resignation requires a combination of targeted, data-backed strategies coupled with agility to act on new signals. This guide provided a blueprint spanning intelligent automation, ESG commitments, flexible work and beyond to retain talent without overreliance on compensation alone. The war for talent shows no signs of abating – by building resilience now, organizations can seize the market upside when conditions stabilize rather than playing catch up then.
Let us know in the comments what resignation mitigation tactics have been most effective in your organization!
