As employers globally watch the Great Resignation unfold, it’s easy to settle into a reactive posture. After all, it’s worked well so far. Executives everywhere are watching attrition rates intently, trying to divine some sense of trend from the tea leaves, all the while reassuring themselves that their culture and tremendous growth opportunities will protect them from the pain that the “others” are experiencing.
The pain in service and hospitality industries doesn’t apply, they think – corporate professionals are different. Companies have embraced remote work, and employees (at least, they assume) are grateful they’re not being forced back into the office.
What you thought was loyalty was momentum
When attrition was low, employers thought they had a loyal workforce. An outstanding company culture. A family-like atmosphere that kept people around and engaged.
Here’s the problem: what employers perceived as dedication and loyalty was really a mix of complacency and a bit of fear of the unknown — in other words, momentum. We can thank the decline in work-life balance since the Great Recession that only got worse during the pandemic. Finding another job takes time and effort. Many professionals have simply been too busy, too burnt out, or just couldn’t be bothered to find another job. And, let’s face it, new jobs are scary – what if the grass isn’t greener? So employees sat tight, and so did employers. And that might have continued, if not for something to disrupt it.
Like the pandemic, the Great Resignation is coming in waves
The crushing uncertainty of the early pandemic made employees shelter in place in their jobs too. Which was good – because nobody knew what was next. The first step toward the Great Resignation was the instantaneous cut to remote work. Companies around the world congratulated themselves for a seamless transition. Employees found themselves productive at home. Things were grand, and it seemed we’d found a new equilibrium overnight. Until the burnout started.
It turns out a two-year global pandemic can change perspective in a big way. Long after employers dropped the “it’s okay not to be okay” lip service, employees are still tired, depressed and anxious – a collective pandemic hangover. After being separated by glass and hospital walls from their actual families, they realized that their company isn’t a family after all. Faced with curtailed social lives and, yes, a darker outlook, employees realized they’re not having fun at work either, and life is too short to slog through a miserable job.
Employers who are patting themselves on making it through 2021 without an explosion in attrition will find themselves sledgehammered in 2022 when the next big wave hits – and just like COVID, it will be bigger than the first one.
Labor arbitrage is dead, and now it’s a two-way street
And just as this not-insignificant realization is hitting the professional workforce, barriers to opportunity have come crashing down. Geographic market adjustments for pay? Good luck maintaining those. Companies that were able to benefit from labor arbitrage by stashing remote workers in lower-cost domestic and international locations are struggling to justify vastly different pay structures for the same work being done from couches across the planet.
That’s not new, though. What’s new is that employees in these locations, who relied on multinational employers to establish connectivity and office space for them, have realized their laptop and home internet are enough to be competitive on the global stage. Providing an office with high-speed internet has turned into a liability when you need to convince a prospective employee to make a treacherous two-hour commute in big-city traffic.
And it takes only a glance over to the U.S. restaurant industry to see a cautionary tale of what happens when employees realize they have new options they hadn’t considered or been able to pursue before.
Employees are not your asset. You are their customer.
“Employees are our greatest asset.” Can network infrastructure walk out the door to a competitor’s open arms with two weeks’ notice? Yet somehow we insist our employees are in the same category as our filing cabinets and forklifts.
This infection continued to spread among global C-suites long after the think pieces challenging this mindset have made the rounds. Assets are acquired, maintained and disposed of. Thinking of employees as assets lulls leaders into thinking they’re investing for the long term in something they ultimately can exert control over – birthing miserable phrases like “human capital” in the process.
But that’s not how it works. Employers need talent. Employees have that talent, and they sell it – lease it, really – to their employer. Like other materials and equipment, this commodity is gaining value. You could call it inflation, but at the end of the day, the cost is going up. Vendors provide their services to the customer that delivers them the best value. Employees might sell it to the highest bidder, but it’s increasingly the prospect that will provide them the best work-life balance, the best experience, or the greatest impact – whatever they value most.
Like any vendor with more demand than supply, they have every reason to shop around for the customer that will bring them the highest value. And unless you’re actively improving your value proposition, it’s probably not you.
It’s really about great businesses
After months of pandemic stress and burnout, employees are not interested that your cash is tight, or can’t give raises because you’re investing for a big geographic expansion. Why would they, with recruiters knocking on the door and plenty of thriving companies fighting for their talents?
That’s why the Great Resignation is a little bit of a misnomer. At its core, it’s really about unlocking the ability for great talent to find its way to great businesses. Sure, a handful of employees are quitting to start businesses or pursue their passions. And more than a few will relish the act of leaving an overbearing or cheapskate boss. But for the majority of employees, the story is actually not about the resignation. It’s about what’s next, and investing their talent in a company that has clearly articulated why it’s the best place on earth for their time, energy and skills. Employees want to have fun at work again, and they’re actively looking for it.
We are in the midst of a massive realignment of top talent to top companies. As it continues, the also-rans will be crippled, struggling to fill empty roles, let alone able to attract even marginal talent, let alone the game changers. Top talent attracts top talent, and the concentration will continue as great businesses continue to hoard happy, engaged employees while the rest slowly suffocate.
If you’re not competing for talent like you’re competing for sales, you’ve already lost the race. As companies invest in customer experience, where is the investment in employee experience? Time after time, we read about how the best companies win because of engaged, passionate employees that have fun at work. What are you doing to make sure you’re the destination and not the resignation?
Copyright © 2021 Nate LaFerle. All rights reserved. Reproduction or reuse in full or in part without written permission prohibited.