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The Great Resignation is coming: Are your staff on the first train out?

 

I left a toxic work environment a while ago ago: I’d moved into a different department and found the Fixed Mindset unbearable. For me, it was the shove I’d needed to go it alone. 

I had re-evaluated my priorities, found the workplace did not meet them, and left.

I am not alone. 

Covid has caused, and given the opportunity to, many people to look again at what they value in their lives, and getting up every day to get on a hamster wheel is not high on that list.

Despite huge uncertainties, we can expect much of the UK’s workforce to be considering a move to more fulfilling work. Many are realising that they can be more flexible in their employment choices, and that they can take a pay cut, and less consumerism, if it means a happier, healthier and more meaningful life

Accurate statistics for the UK are hard to come by, but pre-pandemic over 50% of the workforce were unhappy with their workplace. Some figures suggest that only 30% feel motivated at work.  That suggests that some 70% of employees are not motivated at work. This is a shocking statistic for the country and for any organisation that relies on continuity to maintain its effectiveness.

We are certainly living in a different age to the industrial strife of the 70's and the self-centeredness of the 80's. And I, for one, cannot imagine the workplace of Victorian times and the Victorian values that created it; a time when one was seen and not heard, not only as a child but as an individual. The rights and wrongs of empire are for discussion elsewhere, yet I cannot but help but wonder at the repressed people that must have forged it. Whether you are generation Z or a baby boomer, or anywhere in between, you will see yourself as an individual and expect to be treated as one. So, why do we still have a management culture that has changed little from Victorian values?

Management, by definition, means keeping the status quo. 

A dangerous strategy for the modern business.

Management often means silencing the individual to maintain that status quo. Silencing those who suggest change or better ways of doing things. Silencing innovation.

A term that is gaining more and more traction is a ‘safe place to fail’. If employees feel scared or intimidated to get things wrong and to be honest about it, then a workplace will not move forward and will continually hide its own problems. There has been much research about organisations that do promote a culture of learning through mistakes; one frequently quoted example is of a hospital ward that had a higher number of errors than others. On inspection, it was shown not that this ward had more errors, but that it reported them openly and learnt from them. Where others did not report them, the errors remained hidden and no lessons were learned. 

Without that safety, employees are not going to do anything that may be seen as a risk. Yet, we are at a time when innovation and new ideas are critical to business success. If a business is not innovating it is dying. 

While there are plenty of motivational theories for the workplace, it should be evident to all that motivated staff will be more productive.

There are as many, or more, theories about leadership. Leadership may be an over-used word and may not be quite the right one for someone whose role is to be responsible for the behaviours and outputs of a team. However, it does at least suggest that the team is going somewhere and not standing still. 

There are there are so many styles of leadership; not all suit everybody and none are suitable all the time for all people. 

One prerequisite to any style of leadership though, is the commitment to recognising and treating people as individuals. To some this may sound hard work; but if it is, they are not a leader. They may well be one of those of whom it’s said “people don't leave bad companies; they leave bad managers” (a quote attributed to many different people!) 

It is widely recognised that pay in itself is not the key driver to employment - and one has to suspect that this will be more true post pandemic. 

The key motivators to employment effectiveness can be listed as;

Achievement - a feeling that one is contributing to the workplace.

Recognition - acknowledgement that that contribution is recognised and appreciated.

Relationships - a feeling of community and belonging - and of safety.

Continuity - a sense that there is some order and predictability.

Anticipation – that, although there is predictability, there is also direction, purpose and a progressive goal going forwards.

I would dare to suggest that organisations that are not delivering these motivators are at risk of losing staff in large numbers in the next six months or so:

So, ultimately what needs to change in organisations?

Firstly, some navel gazing; a look inwards at what the company's goals, missions and visions say about it to the outside world and to its staff. 

A look, then, at the company's purpose. is it just about making money for shareholders or is it contributing to the social value of this country and of its local community and seen as a Force for Good? 

Does it provide an inspiring place to work, a sense of belonging and a contribution to the community?

How ‘flat’ is the organisation? Can the people who are doing the work talk openly and easily to those who are directing policy? 

How easy is it to innovate? do staff feel safe to criticise and to make suggestions?

Is there a culture of “accidental managers”? Are people promoted because they are good at their job yet are not being trained for the new responsibilities of the outputs of a team and how to get the best out of individuals and that team? Is the ‘Peter principle’ dominating?, that people will get promoted until they are no longer effective; at which point, they stop getting promoted and so are stuck in a role that they are not effective in?

So many people are re-evaluating their priorities. If an organisation is not in line with those priorities it risks losing its employees on the next train out.