2 Steps to Curtail the Great Resignation – by Verna Lynch and Mackenzie Childs
In 2021, millions of Americans quit their jobs in what has been called the Great Resignation. If we’re hoping that 2022 may give us a respite, we need to think again. Based on a recent CareerArc/Harris Poll, 2022 will see even more resignations, with the lion’s share of them predicted to come in the first quarter.
If you’re like us, articles have been flooding your inbox with solutions to the mass exodus—many including great ideas—from improving employee engagement, re-recruiting your employees, and providing more mental health benefits or more flexible work, to improving your organizational culture. But how do you know these ideas will work for your organization? And if you do them all, won’t you be trying to juggle too many priorities? If you work to improve your culture, how will that help you immediately because culture change takes time. What can you do?
We recommend a two-pronged strategy:
1. Immediately assess your organization and create a short-term plan to stabilize your organization and stem the tide of resignations.
2. Initiate long-term cultural changes in your organization to help prevent the situation from occurring again.
How to stabilize the turnover situation:
1. Find out the underlying causes–the real reasons behind the resignations. There is much current expert research available about why we are seeing “The Great Resignation,” and it’s beneficial to read it. But nothing can substitute for finding out the actual reasons your organization is experiencing this challenge. Exit interviews are not the best place to find out this information. Generally, the information gleaned from the exit interview is too general and too euphemistic. Many employees do not want to burn bridges with their past employers. Some truth may be gleaned from exit interviews, but sometimes not the candor or detail you need. Gather input from employees about why people are leaving and why others are tempted to.
2. Create a sound plan to address those causes (including a communication plan). Once you know all the reasons why employees have left (or are planning to leave), you need to create solutions that directly address these causes. There are various methodologies available; we recommend using Herzberg’s theory of motivation as a framework. For more on this approach, please see this blog. An important aspect of planning is to build a concrete communication plan in order to communicate ongoing progress and solicit input. Be sure to clarify due dates, owners, and process steps.
3. Implement the plan. Follow through on the plan, making sure to adhere to due dates. Where you can, you may want to utilize small temporary employee teams to help implement the plan to address the issues uncovered in employee input. As you implement the plan, communicate and follow up with employees regularly, including how solutions are progressing.
4. Reassess periodically and make mid-course corrections as needed. Any improvement plan or change plan needs to be monitored regardless of size. New issues may arise, and mid-course corrections may be needed.
How to create a long-term plan to guard against future employee turnover
The pandemic has changed the workplace for the long term. Experts from Inc., Korn Ferry, McKinsey, and HBR tell us that things will never go back to the way they were. Employees have changed their expectations, workplace norms have morphed, and we desperately need to retool management and leadership skills entirely to adapt to these realities. In the CareerArc/Harris Poll discussed above, the general, top two reasons cited for mass resignations are working conditions and burnout, both of which are an assessment of leadership and management. The long term solution to preventing future mass resignations has three key steps:
1. Assess leadership competencies. Through EQ assessment and other means, leaders need to develop a clear understanding of strengths and weaknesses, how leaders’ behavior affects others, and the degree of a growth mindset. The second half of this phase looks at Self-Management: emotional regulation, priority setting, and problem-solving skills.
2. Improve leadership capabilities. A key capability needed by leaders in current conditions and post COVID will be compassionate leadership. To facilitate the development of this skill, this step includes an exploration of self-awareness: empathy and seeking understanding, identifying social cues, and demonstrating cultural humility. Improved self-awareness in leaders, in turn, allows for improved relationship management; this part of the process focuses on building trust, tackling tough conversations, and handling feedback.
3. Create a long-term improvement plan. The plan addresses the needs of the organization as discovered in earlier assessment phases and varies widely from organization to organization. For example, the organization may have found that it needs to re-evaluate components of its strategic plan–common purpose statement, mission, and vision planning based on the needs uncovered in assessment. The company may need a way to accurately evaluate their people (via Standards of Excellence) or may need to improve organizational culture around communication. Or there may be a need to implement an employee rewards system, based on cultural (and not necessarily monetary) practices. The long term improvement plan specifically addresses your organization’s opportunities for improvement.
This process has a proven track record for reducing turnover quickly and for preventing future turnover. Your organization does not need to accept “The Great Resignation.”
For more information or for a complimentary strategy session for reducing and preventing employee turnover, please contact us in LinkedIn: Mackenzie Childs and Verna Lynch, or email us: [email protected] and [email protected].