In the wake of lockdowns and work-from-home measures, countries all over the world have begun to face what’s been dubbed the Great Resignation. After an extended period out of the office, more and more workers are re-evaluating their priorities. According to recent research by Microsoft, more than 40 per cent of the global workforce are considering leaving their employers this year. Closer to home, the Hays’ 2021 Salary Guide estimates that 40 per cent of Australians are seeking a new job this year. Many are seeking more flexible working arrangements, rejecting the daily commute in favour of remote positions.
What is The Great Resignation?
The Great Resignation, also known as the Big Quit, is the ongoing trend of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs from spring 2021 to the present in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The term Great Resignation was likely coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at Mays Business School of Texas A&M University. The “Great Resignation” is a sort of workers’ revolution and uprising against bad bosses and tone-deaf companies that refuse to offer flexibility, pay well and take advantage of their staff post-pandemic.
For businesses, the Great Resignation mass exodus has company leaders bracing for a seismic shift in the workforce and this has led to some significant difficulties concerning human resources and workload management. Increased turnover and a large number of unfilled positions mean remaining workers have to shoulder even more responsibilities. That, in turn, leads to burnout, decreased performance, and more resignations. Keeping productivity and morale high in these circumstances offers a unique challenge and requires leaders, in particular, to step up for their team members in a big way.
Dealing with Under-Resourcing During The Great Resignation
Focus on maintenance.
Like any other system, businesses operating beyond their capacity need more maintenance than usual to continue effective operations. Attempting to continue to service the same workload with fewer employees puts an incredible amount of stress on workers. To prevent or slow further resignations, it’s essential to mitigate that stress as much as possible. For business leaders, that means monitoring the condition of employees and stepping in to help them manage stress and maintain a sustainable work/life balance.
Maintain excellent communication.
Communication is key for monitoring how workers are doing. Leaders need transparent and honest feedback to find and address pain points before they turn into more resignations. For this to work, though, leadership needs to acknowledge the reality of the situation. Managers need to sit down with employees individually to find out what they need and honestly commit to improving working conditions as soon as possible.
This helps to show employees that it’s okay to talk to managers about their difficulties and rely on their leaders for support. Managers, in turn, need to step up to provide that support by listening and acting on what they learn by redistributing workloads, setting priorities, and creating policies that help workers reduce stress in and outside of work. Even then, it’s important to remember that while workers can take on increased pressure for a time, burnout becomes an ever-greater risk the longer a person has to endure it.
Identify at-risk employees.
When it comes to company-wide burnout, businesses often don’t realise what’s happening until it’s too late. As some positions go unfilled, others step in to shoulder the burden, wearing many hats to keep everything running. Eventually, the company grows (or more employees leave), and the same people take on even more responsibility and ever-larger workloads. This can be very helpful in the short term, but it also distributes the total workload unevenly. When an understaffing situation persists too long or grows too severe, those individuals are then left at a greater risk of suffering burnout —precisely when employers can least afford to lose them.
Don’t become complacent.
Businesses that put in the effort can often keep their employees productive enough to manage even an oversized workload for an extended period. This kind of lean operation can seem efficient and breed complacency in leadership because it tends to look like a simple cost reduction in the near term. This is dangerous, however, because those open positions existed for a reason. Long-term understaffing can mean that non-essential, low-priority tasks are left undone until they grow into major debacles. At the same time, morale will be affected as employees who were promised improved working conditions lose patience.
Managing under-resourcing is fundamentally about buying your business the time needed to hire and train new talent. To do so successfully, it’s critical to retain existing employees and follow through by getting your team back to full strength as quickly as possible.
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