Four-point-three million people voluntarily left their jobs in December of 2021.¹ In December of 2019,² the quit rate was only 3.4 million. An informal poll on LinkedIn suggested that 74 percent of employers have had employees leave during The Great Resignation. This turnover is creating a vacuum for businesses who are losing talent and are unable to recruit new hires quickly enough.

Why are workers leaving?³ A survey from Joblist identified several key reasons for this turnover, including: wanting to remain remote (51.5 percent); feeling stuck in their current career (35.6 percent); and wanting a better work/life balance (30.6 percent).  
As an employer, it is essential to understand the top concerns of your employees and how they affect your hiring, retention, and overall employee engagement.

Top Employee Engagement Concerns in 2022

While some people have left their jobs in the last year because of concerns about the pandemic, health and safety, or working conditions, there are countless reasons individual employees become dissatisfied with their positions. Importantly, most employers don’t know why their employees are leaving.

Workplace Culture

In 2019, 43 percent of employees cited corporate culture as their reason for leaving.⁴ That has only increased over the last two years. The rise of work-from-home has made maintaining a strong corporate culture and a healthy work/life balance more difficult. The hybrid mix of having some employees on-site and others working from home has made creating a culture of belonging both more difficult and more important. Companies insisting employees return full-time to the office are seeing team members leave for jobs that will continue to be remote.

Workload

Burnout is real. When employees feel they are buried under their workload, it doesn’t take long for them to snap and quit. The always-on routine of working from home can contribute to that stress. However, most employees don’t let their managers know they’re struggling until it’s too late.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In a recent survey by Jobvite,⁵ 42 percent of employees indicated they would not accept a new position if the employer didn’t have a clear plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion. DE&I initiatives are now an important factor for both recruiting and retention.

What Can You Do?

Understanding the satisfaction of your employees and how they feel about your culture is critical to avoid losing employees to The Great Resignation. The best way to find out what your employees are thinking is to ask them. Employee engagement surveys are an important tool to identify if your employees are feeling dissatisfied and to provide insights into how to fix the problems. The anonymous information provided gives employers a starting point to determine what is most important for their teams and what adjustments to make in order to increase retention.

Sigred Solutions is an MMA Premium Associate Member and has been an MMA member company since November 2020. Visit online: sigredsolutions.com.

Mike Dergis is a Partner with Sigred Solutions. He has over 25 years of experience in operational management, executive recruiting, organizational development and international strategy consulting. He may be reached mike.dergis@sigredsolutions.com.

Sources

1. Record 4.5 Million Workers Quit in November (SHRM)
2. Workers quit their jobs at the fastest rate on record in 2019—here’s why (CNBC)
3. How Employers Are Taking on the Great Resignation and a Turnover Tsunami (Joblist)
4. Why Employees Quit: 60 Statistics Employers Should Know (Learn Hub)
5. 42% of Job Seekers Would Reject Offers from Firms Lacking Diversity or Diversity Goals (SIA)