The pandemic hit us hard. Employees had to leave their offices and work from home. Many companies did big layoffs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a whopping 28.4% of the unemployed were temporarily laid off in December 2020. Scary, right? Perhaps just as concerning, since April 2021, more than 19 million U.S. workers (and still counting) have quit their jobs. And 41% of employees are planning to leave their jobs in 2022, according to a Microsoft report. Data suggests that 32% of employees in the United Kingdom are considering handing over their resignations in the next twelve months, as well.

This record exodus from the job market, which has been termed the “Great Resignation,” is disrupting businesses globally and shows no signs of stopping.

What is the Great Resignation?

When the pandemic hit in 2020, people initially stopped resigning and seeking better opportunities because of fear and uncertainty caused by the pandemic. By the end of 2020, however, people started resigning in large numbers. The reason many quit was that working remotely from home gave them time and opportunity away from the office to consider alternative career options. Others quit the corporate world because of burnout. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 4.5 million people quit their jobs! And afterward, about 3% of the workforce kept resigning each month. Almost 1.5 million positions were left vacant because of the resignations: 4.4% in the education sector, more than 6% in retail, and a massive 8% in health care.

Why are employees resigning in such large numbers?

Let’s dive deeper into the reasons leading to the Great Resignation:

• Toxic corporate culture: During the pandemic, many employees complained of a poor work-life balance due to never-ending and excruciating work hours. This led to a culture that many deemed toxic.
• Job insecurity and reorganization within organizations: During the pandemic, there was a feeling of job insecurity. A lot of restructuring by office management and zero-notice terminations made employees feel uncertain regarding companies’ futures. This uncertainty and overall negative feelings toward companies led to many resignations.
• Pressure to innovate: It requires more attention, more hours, and more effort to innovate than to do tasks that have been done before. This can be exhausting, especially amidst other stress and uncertainty. During the pandemic, innovative companies like Nvidia, Tesla, and SpaceX saw a significant number of resignations. Perhaps employees were rethinking the equation between the cost of innovation vs. work-life balance.
• Failure to recognize performance: Naturally, employees like to go that extra mile if the company recognizes their performance, offering incentives like “employee of the month” awards, trips, and more. But during the pandemic, many incentives were cut. Even informal forms of recognition, like appreciation and applause, stopped as the world went virtual.

The solution to the Great Resignation

What is the antidote to the Great Resignation? Now that the problem is so pervasive, the solution must reach the root cause rather than provide a “band-aid” fix. But how can we transition from the Great Resignation to the “Great Retention?”

The answer is to go back to basics. Do you remember your first day at the office? The feeling of nervousness and excitement? That rush from meeting new people? This is precisely the answer to the problem. Revamping the work life of employees can power retention. Start with corporate training, online training, and team-building exercises. (More below.)

The role of Learning and Development (L&D) in retention

L&D initiatives are activities organized by the organization to encourage professional development among its employees. Activities like seminars, fireside chats, and team building exercises can create positive a work environment that keeps employees. To shift your company’s focus toward building a better work experience, try:

• Prioritizing mental health: Business leaders should exhibit openness and reinforce the advantages of sound and robust mental health through training and learning sessions at every level. This will help employees build and maintain mental health and also demonstrate to employees that the organization is invested in their health.
• Promoting the power of a positive learning culture: A positive learning culture can be promoted by adopting lateral moves, never-ending assignments, and enabling mentorships. Engaging individuals in creating development plans helps them find new opportunities to grow. Welcoming employees’ feedback on progress leads to professional growth for both employees and the organization.
• Adopting a culture of care: Employee benefits should get better as time progresses, rather than remaining stagnant. The prospect of getting a better position and amenities at a new job is often a catalyst for an individual to leave their current position to accept a new one. Limeade, an organization dedicated to researching and improving employee well-being, reported in its The Great Resignation Update study that employees are exceptionally happy with a company that cares about their well-being.

Introducing initiatives like two-way communication, peer social networks, transparency from top leadership, and training are measures to empathize with employees. Understanding their pain points and working to make their lives easier can help shift the Great Resignation to the Great Retention.