Workforce Development Expert Offers Solutions to The Great Resignation

By Justin Johnson.
Updated Jan 10, 2022

WASHINGTON (PRWEB) January 10, 2022 - Workers quit their jobs in near record numbers for 8 months straight in 2021. The Great Resignation was initially believed to be a short-term issue related to COVID health concerns, pandemic child care challenges, and a temporary migration away from expensive cities to less-expensive cities and suburbs during office shutdowns. However, labor shortages continue in 2022 with no signs of relief.

And things may be about to get worse. According to Joblists U.S. Job Market Report: Q3 2021, 73% of currently-employed workers say that they are actively thinking about quitting their jobs. With a hot job market, employees have options. Given that employee retention is critical to the long-term survival of any company, the possibility of high-performing employees quitting is now a looming threat to business operations and strategic goals. Organizations that dont address this critical issue immediately may face serious financial consequences in 2022, according to Dr. Mary Barnes, CEO of Evolve Your Performance, LLC. In this environment, its not always possible to replace employees who have specialized skills and business knowledge. Lowered headcount starts to create bottlenecks and constraints. Retaining your best employees is imperative right now. This issue cant be ignored anymore.

EMPLOYEE RETENTION AS AN ESSENTIAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Employee retention and engagement are a pivotal foundation to overall company performance and growth in a myriad of ways, including:

Companies with strong employee retention have a clear advantage over those who dont. In order to improve retention, its important to have a complete picture of whats fueling the resignations.

UNDERSTANDING THE TRUE CAUSES OF LOW EMPLOYEE RETENTION In November 2021, 3% of workers quit their jobs. There were just 6.8 million unemployed to fill 10.6 million jobs. This job seekers market has motivated employees to consider the impact that the pandemic has had on their jobs and their lives and look into their options.

ADP Researchs People at Work 2021: A Global Workforce View, a survey of 32,471 workers in 17 countries, delivers new insights into how employees have fared during the pandemic. While not all of the news is bad, employees have been hard hit in a number of ways. Layoffs and pay cuts have shaken worker confidence and security. Unpaid overtime has jumped to 9.2 hours per week. More than 3 in 5 employees are reportedly underpaid. And 67% of workers report that the pandemic has forced them to compromise on their personal lives. According to Martha Bird, Chief Business Anthropologist, Global Strategy at the ADP Innovation Lab, the pandemics disruption and struggles have many employees questioning how to live a life of meaning and purpose both inside and outside of work. This has led some to pursue a life where their values are part of their workday and they are valued as a whole person at work.

While the factors influencing this trend are many and complex, valuing workers and respecting their personal values is a leadership issue that is firmly within the organizations control. Even so, in larger organizations, low employee retention is rarely a company-wide phenomenon. Thats because employee engagement is directly impacted by a supervisors leadership engagement. In Gallops report, State of the American Manager, researchers found that 35% of managers were engaged and 65% were not engaged or were actively disengaged. Just 30% of the workers were engaged. The cause and effect relationship was so explicit that the report states, Until organizations can increase their percentage of engaged managers, they have little hope of increasing their percentage of engaged employees. This issue will be discussed at an upcoming complimentary online event, Evolve Your Leadership or Perish, on January 24, 2022. Registration information can be found at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/evolve-your-leadership-or-perish-tickets-240658826027.

ASSESSING THE TURNOVER RISK Employee happiness has suddenly become an important topic. Companies are taking unprecedented steps such as offering hefty sign-on bonuses, conducting exit interviews with current employees, increasing pay rates, and adding new benefits.

However, those measures are targeted at the organizational level and dont directly address the fact that many employees quit their manager, not their job. Theres a simple, no-cost way to determine which leaders may inadvertently be creating flight risks with their management styles. Simply track the voluntary separation rate for all managers and flag everyone who is over the organizations mean or target for further follow up, Barnes explains. By focusing on upskilling individual leaders, organizational employee retention automatically improves. For step-by-step instructions to utilize this strategy, see Evolves complimentary Quick Guide, Assess and Address Elevated Voluntary Separation Rates at https://evolveyourleaders.com/assess.

A CAUTIONARY WORD ON SELECTING LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS While the internet is filled with leadership training and coaching options, most leadership development programs are simply not going to be effective when it comes to mitigating the risk of The Great Resignation. Barnes explains, Its just not that easy to change human behavior. Transformational leadership skills are not learned in a classroom. They must be practiced and honed on the job to become an integrated part of how we do business going forward. Thats why Evolves learning framework empowers leaders to put their lessons to work immediately and supports them as they gain essential experience and create lasting transformation in their organizations.

About Evolve Your Performance, LLC: Evolve Your Performance, based in College Park, MD, is a change management company that helps clients to take a people-centric approach to solving problems and accelerating success. For more information on Evolves Transformational Leadership and Accountability program, please visit https://evolveyourleaders.com/leadership

About Dr. Mary Barnes, CEO of Evolve Your Performance, LLC: With more than 20 years of leadership experience across commercial, local, and federal government organizations, Mary brings a deep knowledge of organizational dynamics, change management, and strategy development from both a practical and academic perspective. She uses that experience to help leaders maximize organization performance, deliver transformational change, and unlock employee potential.

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