The Great Resignation: Value vs. Churn

I’ve been interviewing people who have resigned, are about to resign, or expect to resign in the next few months. It’s a hot topic right now: Microsoft’s research shows that 41% of employees, globally, are considering changing roles in the next year, and leadership teams everywhere are reporting significant churn. The UK has more unfilled jobs than ever before.

Going into my interviews, I assumed people wanted change after all the lockdowns and restrictions of Covid.

And they do.

But it’s more than that.

Listening to them talk brings to my mind the final letter that Chaim Herman wrote to his wife and daughter in 1944 as the allies closed in on Auschwitz. It included this line:

"I ask your forgiveness, my dear wife, if there had been, at various times, trifling misunderstandings in our life, now I see how one was unable to value the passing time…"

What I am hearing in interviews is a new awareness for valuing time—for seeing it as the most precious resource.

Which means if their organisation makes them feel worthless, if their boss is horrible, if what they do feels pointless, then—yes—their time feels under appreciated. And, yes, they are looking for change.

Takeaway to Reduce Churn:

Think really hard about whether difficult managers are worth the churn they create. Help people see they are valued and that what they do has value. McKinsey research shows that employers underestimate how important these things are to employees.

Next week:

Building team spirit in hybrid and remote: plus all the usual dogs, dodgy gags and show tunes.

Christine