The Great Attrition of 2021 — Is an army of Employees resigning in record numbers — and it continues unabated. If you think this was just a passing trend or only impacts certain industries, you may be ill-advised. We are over half way into 2022 and the Army seems to be growing in numbers. In fact Global research by McKinsey discovered that 58% of employees indicated that they were somewhat likely to almost certain to quit in the coming months. Likewise, a majority of the employers participating in the research were experiencing record levels of turnover and expected it to continue — a trend that was similar across industries.
The most intriguing finding from the research was the significant disconnect between why employers thought people were resigning and what employees cited as reasons.
The top three reasons for quitting identified by employers were looking for a better job, inadequate compensation and work-life balance. Those factors were only somewhat important for employees. However, the most important reasons cited by employees were not feeling valued by the organisation, not being valued by their manager and not feeling that they belonged at their organisation. Additional factors that were somewhat important for employees but not cited by employers were potential for advancement, having caring and trusting teammates and the opportunity for a flexible work schedule.
The key insight from this research is that if leaders want to avoid or reduce the impact of significant attrition, they need to look internally at the cultural practices and behaviours that engage and retain employees.
For employers, now that you know the size of this army we will expose key ways to combat it and how you can attract and keep hold of the right talent for your business.
A series of blogs on how to fight back against The Great Attrition will follow..