Great Resignation: Who is driving it? Why?

Great Resignation: Who’s Driving It And How Can Organizations Cope With It?

In May 2021 when Bloomberg Businessweek introduced the phrase ‘Great Resignation’, coined by Anthony Klotz, to the world, little did they know that this phrase will soon become bane for many organizations across the globe.

Surviving and striving in Pandemic has triggered the YOLO ‘You Only Live Once’ effect in the employees, which had them revaluating their life in terms of where they are, what do they want from their life and career, and what are their priorities. While in 2020 employees chose to play safe by holding on to their jobs, also referred as ‘Missing Quits’, due to high uncertainty in the market. In 2021 the rush of resignations overwhelmed the best of the employers around the world.

In pre-pandemic era it was easier for companies to offer lucrative perks, creative incentive schemes, rewards, growth opportunities even to keep their employees bound to their desk. The pandemic unwound all of that. Having experienced suffering and loss in all the umpteen waves of Covid-19, the employees have now higher appetite of taking risks to lead a happier life and have a fulfilling career.

Many researchers around the globe have found several reasons behind the great resignation, the top on the chart still is burnout, lack of work & life balance and the employer’s response to pandemic related challenges. Losing talent is always concerning for organizations, losing talent in mass numbers can cause a long-term damage to organization’s overall growth. Bleeding workforces has pushed companies to adapt innovative recruitment and engagement strategies as the happy hours, fun activities and ten types of different celebrations have lost its meaning for the employees.

So, what are the employees looking for? Why do they leave? Where are they going?

Great Resignation must be driving Great Hiring too, so how are companies attracting the right Talent?

In June 2021 when I had the same triggers pushing me to look for better opportunities, I was shared a perfect opportunity for my skills with one of the biggest IT giants. Most of their recruitment in done through employee referrals, so I quickly reached out to one of their employees in my network. They happily agreed to refer me, but the conversation took a turn when they shared that company was undergoing a huge turnover and employees are completely burned-out. Working for minimum twelve hours was an unspoken norm, turnover or not. This friend of mine is raising a 7-year-old and hearing her ordeal of dealing with work pressures with no consideration from their employer was disheartening. I connected with few more employees for their feedback but when they repeated the same ordeal it completely changed my view of that employer. Safe to say I was no more looking forward to working for them.

We are still not in the ‘post-Pandemic’ stage, but the hiring scene has already changed substantially, it has put the employees in the driving seat. Employees everywhere are looking or in fact demanding for higher flexibility, better medical benefits and would be more willing to be part those organizations who have responded to Pandemic related challenges promptly and empathetically through effective policies supporting their workforce.

Organizations who are thriving during the great resignation wave are the ones who have stepped up their game in two particularly critical areas firstly, grabbing the right recruitment opportunities through right channels and secondly, designing retention strategies positively transforming their internal culture.

With the changing demands of the potential candidates a robust recruitment system is the need of the hour to effectively meet the challenges of active loss of talent. Over last couple of years and more so during the Pandemic RippleHire ATS platform has placed itself as a strong strategic partner in speeding up the entire hiring process, giving the scope to the hiring managers to better engage with the candidates & recruiters, bringing high level of transparency and building an environment of shared responsibility for all stakeholders of the recruitment process.

The unsaid game changer for the organization is their employer branding. If employees are endorsing the culture, environment, leadership and benefits of working with the organization in their network then more than half of the war for the organization is already won. Adding a strong referral program to tap the passive potential candidates can ensure that right quality candidates who are better fit for the culture are being sourced.

RippleHire Employee Referral Module is helping organization in building a strong brand for themselves, attract huge quality talent pool quickly specially the pool that comes with prior knowledge of the organization culture and fit, keeping the existing employees engaged and informed saving substantial cost for the organization.

Employees who chose to stay with their employers became the major drivers of change forcing employers to relook at their engagement and retention strategies. Some organizations have surged ahead of their competition by taking an agile approach to their engagement practices by putting their people first and catering to their changing needs.

Practices like; adding remote work options, flexibility of working from home, support for working parents who chose to work from home, offering wellness programs, new ways of connecting leadership with the employees in remote working scenario, online learning opportunities, support for employee’s family in case of death by providing employment support to spouse and financial support for children education, upgrading Mediclaim policies to meet health expenses requirement for employees affected by Covid, providing additional paid leaves for employees recovering from covid, some companies even provided carer leaves.

Employee engagement impacts employee, their retention and overall productivity of the company which can in turn impact company’s customer satisfaction as well.

There is no reason why this great resignation era can not lead to the era of great retention or hiring. All that an organization need to do is ‘Listen’. Listen to your employees, listen to their challenges and their needs, they will tell you all that you need to become a ‘Great Employer’.