I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard a member of management complain that “nobody wants to work anymore” or that “this [younger] generation lacks work ethic!” As a member of the younger generation and a manager, I get it. And while the "Great Resignation" reverberated across industries worldwide in 2021, we’re still seeing the residual effects of that movement in 2024 with increasing labor shortages across industries. As managers and leaders in our organizations, we can easily take this personally or dismiss these resignations or the rejection of job offers by suggesting that a lack of work ethic or entitlement prompted this mass exodus or pushes candidates to decline job offers. The truth? Employees know their worth and will no longer settle for less than that. The harsher truth? Simply complaining about the problem won’t fix it, and it sure as hell won’t bring employees back. We must understand the primary motivations for the mass resignations and the labor shortages then reevaluate our hiring and retention strategies with those motivations in mind to build comprehensive compensation packages, company cultures, and career paths worth pursuing.
Drivers of Resignation
According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research center, the top three reasons employees resigned during the Great Resignation include:
Insufficient Pay - Just so we’re clear, not only does McDonald’s start their employees at $15/hr., but grocery store chains like Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods start their employees between $15-$20/hr. They also offer health insurance benefits to their part-time employees. Of course, these are large corporations with a much larger budget than most small businesses. With that said, under no circumstances should organizations of any size offer the same starting rate to new hires in 2024 as they offered new hires ten or more years ago. Since the start of the Great Resignation, we’ve seen droves of employees “Quiet Quitting” and “Working Their Wage.” Quite frankly, I don’t disagree with this movement. If we can’t afford to offer our employees a livable wage, then we need to reassess our corporate budgets, figure out how to optimize our internal processes or automate the roles we aim to fill (we can help!) The geniuses at MIT developed a living wage calculator that every organizational leader should bookmark in their preferred browser. This calculator allows you to drill down to the specific county of employment and details the Living Wage, Poverty Wage, and Minimum wage for that specific location with consideration for the number of children/dependents an employee has. Use this as a baseline!
Lack of Growth Opportunities - Gone are the days of the career workers - the employees who start and end their careers with the same organization in the same or similar positions. In fact, employment history showing two years or less at an organization no longer raises red flags to potential employers. Instead, moving from one organization to the next every two-three years to increase compensation or advance one's position shows initiative and a desire to grow without suggesting a lack of commitment or perseverance (Tong, 2022).
Lack of Respect in the Workplace - I can’t say this loud enough - FINANCIAL COMPENSATION DOES NOT PERMIT DISRESPECT. Whether it comes from a peer, a supervisor, or the owner of the company, disrespect that goes unchecked sends a message to the team member(s) on the receiving end: 1) leadership can’t or won’t hold people accountable, 2) leadership doesn’t care about employees. Add gender, race, religion, age, and/or sexual orientation into the mix and we cause irrevocable damage to the perception our team members have of us/leadership. The cultural shift we’re seeing among younger generations challenges the workplace “norms” Gen X-ers, Boomers and older generations tolerated in their careers. More and more Gen Z workers take to unionizing and picketing for better working conditions. I’d hardly call that lazy.
While we might hate to admit it, I’m sure we can each recall an instance or point to a particular interaction we had with an employee or leader in our organization that closely resembles (if not exactly mirrors) any of these three motivators for resignation. Sometimes the truth is ugly, but if we ever hope to retain our talent and grow our organizations in doing so, we have to face that truth. But that’s just the beginning. To affect meaningful change within our organizations, we must devise a solution to address these challenges, then consistently implement practices that push our team and our organization toward success. Not sure where to start? Schedule a call with us today!
References:
Medlar, A., Liu, Y., & Glowacka, D. (2022, October 14). Nobody Wants to Work Anymore: An Analysis of r/antiwork and the Interplay between Social and Mainstream Media during the Great Resignation. arXiv.org. https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.07796
Tessema, M. T., Tesfom, G., Faircloth, M. A., Tesfagiorgis, M., & Teckle, P. (2022). The “Great Resignation”: Causes, Consequences, and Creative HR Management Strategies. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 10(01), 161–178. https://doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2022.101011
Thompson, D. (2022, May 10). Three Myths of the Great Resignation. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/great-resignation-myths-quitting-jobs/620927/
Tong, G. C. (2022, March 30). How much job-hopping is too much? Here’s what hiring managers say. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/30/great-resignation-what-hiring-managers-think-of-job-hopping.html
Comments