I Quit!

LEADER'S FIELD GUIDE

The Great Resignation marks a massive exodus of workers seeking trust, significance, and engagement. Uncover the impact of the WFH movement.

The word resignation has a few meanings. The most common usage defines the act of retiring or giving up a position. Resignation also identifies the document conveying someone's intention of retiring. …And, resignation can describe the acceptance of something undesirable but inevitable. These days, employers are discovering that more people than ever are resigning from their roles. Employees are resigned to the fact they will not get what they want from their jobs. En masse, professionals are assuming things won’t improve at work and it’s making history.

People are calling it the “Great Resignation,” and as the Gallup data show, it's not an industry, role or pay issue. It's a workplace issue. ~ Gallup, Inc.

Gallup, known for its polls and analytics, simply titled one report: The ‘Great Resignation’ Is Really the ‘Great Discontent’.¹ This discontent is unnerving to employers who expected to get back to normal following the Work from Home (WFH) movement of 2020. According to Inc., a poll conducted by LinkedIn found “74% of those surveyed indicated that the time spent at home -- either during shut-downs or working remotely -- during the pandemic had caused them to rethink their current work situation.”²

What do discontented employees want to be? 

1. Trusted: The WFH culture shifts old, face-to-face measures of productivity to a new, unseen confidence between team members. Harvard Business Review describes two types of trust: Competence Trust-- “believing others will deliver and that the work will be high quality;” and Interpersonal Trust-- “believing others have good intentions and high integrity.”³
2. Significant: After reevaluating life on every level, employees are realizing some jobs aren’t worth it. They desire more pride in their work and in their organization. They seek a better quality of life and a positive impact in their communities. They wish to be truly cared for. Many are willing to leave the promise of rich benefits to follow their dreams.
3. Engaged: A Gallup study confirms engaged (enthusiastic and dedicated) employees yield “better profitability, productivity, absenteeism, customer loyalty/engagement and other business outcomes” when their “basic, individual, teamwork and growth needs” are met.^{4, 5} Engaged employees understand expectations, feel supported, and get trained! 

Gone are measures of occupied seats in the cube farm or the number of times whiteboards are used. Today’s employees don’t want to be counted or monitored-- they want to be trusted, significant, and engaged. If leaders don’t employ new metrics, they will be employing new team members.

Sources: ¹ Gallup: The 'Great Resignation' Is Really the 'Great Discontent'; ² Inc.: The Great Resignation Is Here, and It's Real; ³ Harvard Business Review: WFH Is Corroding Our Trust in Each Other; ⁴ Investopedia: Employee Engagement; ⁵ Gallup: Gallup's Q¹² Employee Engagement Survey.

by Michelle Sugerman • Leading Synergies, LLC • © All Rights Reserved

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