- Avoiding the
Great Resignation as a business requires taking a lot of factors into account. - Focus on values, benefits, and having honest conversations with employees, experts said.
In August, 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs, representing almost 3% of the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The trend, dubbed "the Great Resignation," continues to affect businesses.
During a session titled "How to Avoid the 'Great Resignation,'" a part of the event "HR Innovation & Prioritizing People" presented by Workplace from Facebook and moderated by Insider's senior editor of
"The solution to this great resignation is, unfortunately, there are no silver bullets," George LaRocque, founder and principal analyst at WorkTech, said during the panel. "There's no one-size-fits-all solution."
Raising pay helps, but conversations should center on wellness, benefits, attracting more diverse talent, collaboration, and communication as well. Pay is just "table stakes," he added.
"What's really driving the decision to stay or the decision to take a position tends to be around the value that is coming from the work," LaRocque said. Regardless of the career stage of employees, his research found that most were willing to take a position for less pay if they got more value from their work.
People are choosing to engage with work differently today, Ian Cook, VP of people analytics at Visier, said. It could be that they want more flexibility, a change in their career track, or for employers to better represent their values.
"If employers are not paying attention to that, we believe they're going to be missing out, they're not going to avoid the resignations, and they're going to deepen their challenges," he said.
Businesses should start by listening to employees and finding out what they truly want, Cook said. What do they value most? Is it flexibility, work relationships, or something else?
Focus on both day-to-day and long term, LaRocque said, "then create an environment where they feel comfortable sharing that information. That's really important."
"We're focusing on understanding that at the team level, the little actions that can be taken to facilitate making work work for people, enjoyable, and rewarding. That's what most people are looking for and that's how you build retention from the ground up," Cook said.
Focusing on wellness, work-life balance, and wellbeing is critical, too. "We've seen a huge uptick in the adoption of marketplaces and technology and services that bring everything from coaching and mentors to psychiatrists and interpersonal connections within the workforce in order to address this," LaRocque said.