Our Head of People Solutions, Anne Clews, discusses what economists have been calling the ‘Great Resignation’ and reflects on the ways employers need to change to retain their talent.
Since the Covid Pandemic hit, there has been an ongoing trend in rising numbers of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs. With many people seeking change in their lives, getting their ‘dream job’ or becoming a stay at home parent. There are many reasons why employees are switching jobs, but are employers partly to blame too?
Why are so many employees leaving their places of work?
Anne explains one of the big reasons (but not the only reason) is worker burnout, feeling overwhelmed and over worked as many us have felt more than ever during the Pandemic. We’ve been faced with trying to juggle more in our work/home lives and adapting to new working environments.
A familiar story so far.
However, another factor we can’t ignore is how employers are treating their people. Many people have been thinking about how they feel within their jobs. For example, do they feel heard and valued, are they being appreciated and do they feel safe?
There’s also a large proportion of people that have had more time to think and reflect on what they want in a career. Many of us have experienced truly flexible and agile working for the first time. This will have prompted some to search for careers that fit around their lifestyle and not the other way around.
What does this mean for UK businesses and organisations?
Can they get ahead of their talent leaving before it is too late?
We think that this is a great opportunity for employers to reframe, and evaluate where they are from a strategic point of view. They need to think about the long term. What story are they writing for the business in the future. What does that mean for their people, culture and talent management process?
Another important consideration when focussing on the future is how working processes have changed too. This has a knock on effective for how we manage and lead our people in the future. It is often said that people leave their manager rather than the business. Have you redesigned your management and leadership programmes to reflect new ways of working for example?
It’s no surprise to hear, that 87% of people want more flexibility within their job role and yet only 22% of jobs are advertised as home working or hybrid.
At Curium, we’ve had to look at this ourselves. We are big advocates recruiting from within our talent pool. We get the whole team involved in recruitment and many of them refer people from their networks to us.
It is worth reflecting that the best people to sell your organisation to future hires are those in it. We recruit people rather than employees, as we also want to unlock their interests and passions. Their journey does not finish when they join us. It’s important that we get the best out of each other, fulfilling their own purpose whilst delivering for the business and our customers too.
Ultimately we need to see the ‘Great Resign’ as an opportunity for reframing and attracting new talent to our businesses. Of course, it’s important to hold onto them too.
