Kirsty runs the B Corpo certified, global, multi-award-winning PR agency Milk & Honey PR. She writes about ethical leadership.
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We were once told that change is the new normal. Today, change really doesn’t cover it—the recent past suggests that the wholly unprecedented, wildly unpredictable and frankly bizarre is the new normal. The indirect consequences of this volatility threaten to be far-reaching. Looking at the labor market alone, impacts are significant.
In the U.K., Brexit has exacerbated a pandemic-driven recruitment crunch as the economy reopens at speed. Government figures show that there were around 340,000 job vacancies in Q2 2020, while this rocketed to over 1.2 million in Q4 2021. And vacancies keep growing even though employment levels are rising.
It’s a rude awakening that the past year has led to fuel shortages, empty supermarket shelves and canceled flights, alongside a reminder of what life was like in the dark ages before same-day delivery. This shift in the workforce dynamic isn’t going to tail off anytime soon. And as employers, we need to pay attention.
The Great Resignation
We are witnessing a significant and potentially transformative employment event: people leaving jobs in unheard-of numbers. Research from the U.K. suggests that close to a third of all workers—in excess of 10 million people—are considering quitting their jobs in 2022.
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The Great Resignation is being met with shock, but should we really be surprised? Too many companies, for too long, have created environments where work must be endured rather than enjoyed. Employees are mistrusted and closely monitored but otherwise neglected. The irony is that these dismal workplaces create the behaviors that employers are so afraid of. Treat people with disrespect, disregard and antipathy, and they’re likely to serve it right back at you—with added relish.
Employees, meanwhile, have experienced an epiphany. It seems that the dislocation brought on by lockdowns has acted as a giant reset button. People have had an opportunity to step back from the hamster wheel. It has shown them a better way. Time-killing commutes, incarceration in soul-sapping offices and big-brother bosses—once seen as the price of employment—have been exposed as relics of an obsolete working model.
Clearly, the multitudes secretly drafting their resignation letters aren’t all about to retire: They’re planning on going somewhere better.
The Great Revelation
Anachronistic workplaces still exist because money, and the lack of an alternative, have traditionally commanded compliance. The Covid-19 reset, however, shows the almighty paycheck in a less favorable light. What good is a hefty salary when earning it weighs you down? What’s the point of a healthy bank account when work makes you ill? Why have the income to give your family a better life when long hours mean you never see them?
Money is important—of course it is— but in the post reset world, reward is not simply financial. A report from the Pew Research Center in the U.S. shows that 63% of workers cited insufficient pay as their reason for leaving a job. So far, so predictable. What may be less expected, however, is that exactly the same number (63%) reported that a lack of advancement opportunities motivated their decision to leave. If you think that’s surprising, try this on for size—the four next most popular reasons have nothing to do with money either: lack of respect (57%), child care issues (48%), inflexible hours (45%) and poor benefits (43%).
Money (Alone) Can’t Buy You Love
A study in the MIT Sloan Management Review neatly summarizes the lesson: While pay and performance are relevant when it comes to attrition, “the important point is that other aspects of culture appear to matter even more.”
Culture—so long derided, ignored or faked—is revealed as the differentiator for workers and competitive advantage for businesses. A dysfunctional culture is 10 times more likely to drive workers away than inadequate pay. Conversely, internal opportunity, working flexibility and a vibrant work/social scene are the top three reasons why people stay. After much doubt and denial, we have empirical evidence that cultural impact is real.
Creating a healthy culture is simple in principle but more complicated in execution. Our intentions must be genuine—people aren’t stupid and can spot inauthenticity from a mile away. If it’s to be trusted, which it must, culture has to be consistent and pervasive—you can’t switch it off to meet a short-term need and then back on again. Cultures must reflect as well as shape, taking what’s best in us to help us become better.
I love my job because it keeps me intellectually stimulated, socially engaged and financially rewarded. It’s time to share the thrill we get as business leaders to create the kinds of companies that we would like to work for. Places where paychecks reward us for finding opportunity, not compensate for lost time. Places where colleagues are stimulating, not cellmates. Places that free our diversity and creativity, not where we’re forced to fit. For me, the Great Resignation leads to a greater revelation: Money alone can’t buy you love.
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Author: Kirsty Leighton, Forbes Councils Member
