The Great Resignation is real, and it’s happening right now.
We had seen the signals even before the Great Resignation term was coined, but we neglected them. Recent pandemics and pressure to get things done under the justification of productivity increase were just the contributors to the phenomena.
Future Forum Pulse survey brought staggering results that 57% of respondents are open to looking for a new job in 2022, while other surveys are finding similar results globally. Burnout rates, productivity pressure, getting used to the home office, and juggling work-life balance, make enough reasons to suspect that many quit or want to quit in their quest for better work opportunities, self-employment, or higher pay.
Companies that have invested in internal culture transformation centered around humans will have a greater chance to attract tech talents while maintaining retention rates.
The Great Resignation indicators
How did it all start? You could say - under our nose.
Most decision-making processes were almost exclusive to company leaders, while middle management was rarely involved in the process.
Even before pandemics struck our world and the need for extensive communication arose, many senior executives have spent too much time in a protected communication bubble where messages would reach them only after many rounds of presentation revisions and pre-meetings. This insulation caused executives to lose touch with the day-to-day realities of their people. That was the foundation stone for the Great Resignation phenomenon.
Here are the most occurring indicators showing if your company is about to experience the Great Resignation phenomenon.
1. Transparency
The same survey reveals ’great employee - executive disconnect’ as one of the main drivers of the Great Resignation phenomenon. Why? Because executives are holding way better than middle managers and individual contributors on nearly every measure, as executives score 62% higher than non-executives for overall satisfaction, or incredible 114% based on ‘feeling good about stress and anxiety.’
Lack of transparency generates an effect where people are getting more used to talking between themselves. During the pandemic shift to remote work, the situation got significantly better when employees on all levels became more transparent and in constant communication. That made employees feel more like they belonged, especially as some tech companies became forefront leaders with bold incentives.
It also generates annoyance of employees, especially as lack of interest in the planning process significantly emphasized the need for two-way street communication.
2. Employee engagement
Employees who don’t believe in their company have lower employee experience scores and lower retention, which brings us to employee engagement.
The term refers to an employee’s level of commitment and connection to the organization. It’s in direct correlation with retention rates and organizational performance.
Research has shown that setting goals and targets with your team is an excellent way of encouraging employee engagement, as more than 72% of employees whose managers help them set goals are more engaged than those whose managers don’t.
Companies can keep their employee engagement rates up through flexibility and retaining task ownership. If not, this is an indicator that your employees might leave after pandemics end.
3. Productivity monitoring
The tech industry is highly relatable on productivity as the tight deadlines, and anxious investors constantly knocking at the door to check the ongoing growth pace.
During the pandemic, the culmination of productivity push came as the home office working environment brought a 30% increase in productivity on average per company. It also raised voices that the ‘9-5 job’ isn’t relevant anymore, but to get tasks done whenever and wherever until the deadline.
Recently we brought to attention the importance of changing company culture from burning the midnight oil, as it doesn’t produce great results anymore—just dissatisfaction. To prevent the Great Resignation build-up, most forward-thinking companies are moving toward a culture that no longer celebrates workaholics.
4. Work conditions
It depends on the company level of flexibility whether creating optimal work conditions will be adequately understood.
Nowadays, some colleagues are eagerly waiting to come back to the office. In contrast, others would like to embrace hybrid work and those who would like to travel around the globe while contributing to company tasks remotely.
Creating unified working conditions is simply impossible anymore.
Some companies take the matter seriously and become leaders in work conditions innovation. The first step for business leaders is to recognize that work conditions can significantly impact employee health while reflecting management decisions that employees can reconsider.
Why is it important to implement the Great Resignation antidotes now?
One of the most cited studies from Harvard Business Review found that resignation rates were higher among employees who worked in fields that have experienced a significant increase in demand during pandemics, likely leading to increased workloads and burnout. Increased demand generates burnout, while burnout means resignation.
Here are the 8 starting points to improve companies' chances to embrace The Great Resignation phenomenon with more ease.
1. Job ads
Gaining a competitive edge during melting hot tech talent market times will make employers refine their employer branding messages and match workers' current priorities.
Job postings advertising agile approach, hyper-growth, or unicorn ambitions are becoming less attractive, while those endorsing flexibility or internal mobility are becoming more attractive.
Tailoring the job postings to the changing needs of picky tech talents becomes another form of presenting your company as a flexible organization.
2. Brand focus
The company brand must be focused on what employees and future candidates want and to deliver on that promise.
Companies have to reconstruct their brands to put people in the front seat as the focus shifts to candidate and employee experience.
Start articulating your Employer Value Proposition (EVP) to promote the uniqueness of the organizational culture. Define touchpoints that make your employees feel like one, whether prone to remote work or emphatic to animal rights. The team is still a team, and that’s your stronghold.
3. Company focus
If your company gives employees what they want, you should start saying it aloud and often.
Full remote policy, or introduction of 4-day-workweek - start communicating it through all the channels, job listings, and candidate recruitment efforts. Position yourself in the minds of software developers as a forefront workforce innovation leader.
4. Internal mobility
Internal mobility isn’t something new, but it brings a brand new perspective on retention.
Results from many studies say that employees will longer stay with companies embracing internal hiring than those who don’t.
Employees usually perceive internal mobility programs as investments in their professional development. According to LinkedIn, employees with high internal mobility stay almost two times longer at their companies.
5. Switch from passive to active communication
Besides the Great Resignation phenomenon, 2022 will pose many significant challenges. It gives tech recruiters a chance to go out there and highlight why candidates should reconsider working for a certain company.
Switching focus from passive communication (mainly conducted on social media) makes tech recruiters concentrate their day-to-day activities on building strong relationships with candidates. Every once in a while, check your candidates to see what is going on. Ask them if they are satisfied with their current jobs, and discuss the pressing problems.
More and more work is to be done when conducting tech recruiting activities, but strong relationships contribute to trust-building. At the same time, developer referrals are still the best way to promote the attractiveness of your organization.
6. Be open on diversity and inclusion
Remote work and its upgraded hybrid version identify the home as a place of psychological safety where employees don’t need to stress if they recognize them according to their personality. That gives undermined groups more space to express themselves as proactive, hard-working individuals and, at the same time, make talent pools wider.
Software developers show a significantly higher willingness to stay in companies that are very aware of diversity and conduct various policies to break the bias.
Become a truly forward-thinking company by introducing a bold policy to hold your managers responsible for proactive bias management or modeling inclusive behaviours.
7. Humanity and empathy-building policies
Humanity and empathy now must be incorporated into tech recruitment.
As we all face challenges at our workplace or in everyday activities and interactions, company leadership must respond by ensuring that their employees and potential candidates feel safe, protected, and taken care of during their lives.
For example, companies should care for all infected employees during sick leaves with full paid COVID care with a still impending pandemic.
8. The work-life balance
Our Developer Report 2019 study brought to attention the importance of maintaining a work-life balance for software developers. Today it’s inevitable to accept importance for every employee who experienced the benefits and challenges of remote work to obtain their work-life balance.
It’s not enough to just mention that your company takes care of work-life balance, but to explain how it does. The exact way your company helps balance professional and personal life has to be shown to future employees.
Incorporate it on your company website, inside your job ads, and dedicate a special blog post explaining how your company maintains work-life balance for all those who explore it. Let them keep that in mind once the decision to change their job is about to be made.
Showcase your no-meeting Wednesdays, ‘detox days’ when your team goes into nature to recharge your batteries and bond together, or summer office shutdowns.
Don’t be shy, as this information potential candidates have to know. Be as precise and honest as possible.
You won’t beat up the Great Resignation, but you might make it bearable for your company
The post-pandemic hiring recovery will continue to be hectic in 2022. Extraordinary hiring demand, fierce competition, and an overhaul of employee experience to meet candidate expectations will stay with us.
The Great Resignation phenomenon was inevitable, and it’s good that it has manifested while we still can act and improve our company cultures, and care about each employee whether they are part of tech, administration, or management workforce.
Today’s job candidates and employees expect significantly more from their companies.
