28 March, 2022
Alyssa Zacharias, Lead Editor at Clash Creative
Four-minute read
Ignited by the pandemic, organizations worldwide have experienced all-time high resignation rates over the past two years, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that in 2021, U.S. quits hit “a series high of 47.8 million.”
While pandemic-related changes offer plenty of excuses to improve a head exec’s slumber, such as increased employee depression and anxiety leading to higher quit-rates or laziness when staff demand work-from-home arrangements, these factors are irrelevant. This is why The Great Resignation, also known as The Big Quit, is really a misnomer. What we are experiencing is The Great Awakening.
Employees – no, people – aren’t leaving their jobs because you won’t let them work in their pyjamas. No, in an age of protest and mass awareness of the injustices happening worldwide, people are switching jobs because there’s nothing like a global pandemic to remind you that it is possible to spend your time well. As well, the job market has never been more saturated due to the increase in remote work positions.
We wrote about this in 2021, but as more organizations ponder how to satisfy an awakened talent pool, some points are worth reiterating while new ones are increasingly salient. What follows are four crucial factors that will help you and your organization embrace The Great Awakening:
Have High-Quality Values
That’s right – we’re not here to pat you on the back, tell you that you’re trying your best, and offer marketing advice to convince your audience that your values are better than they are. The next generation of employees are even better sleuths than we are, and they’ll pick up on bull**** quicker than you can fill their position. Take the time to sit down with your leadership team and re-evaluate (or perhaps evaluate for the first time?) your company’s core values. Ask yourself – if you were a 25 year old with access to innumerable job ads via LinkedIn, would you want to choose your organization?
Work-Life Balance
While this term is becoming a lifeless buzzword, it remains a crucial factor in retaining great talent. A burnt-out employee is unproductive, without valuable ideas, enthusiasm, and an admirable work ethic. To restore these invaluable qualities, you must offer the sort of work-life balance you would wish for. This includes the flexible hours we all fell in love with during the pandemic, remote work options, and a generous amount of time off. Trust us – you will get better work out of a person who’s strapped to their office chair less.
Prioritize Company Metrics
As Ian Cook from the Harvard Business Review suggests, one method to address high resignation rates is to quantify the problem, identify the root causes, and develop tailored retention programs. Many organization leaders may be hesitant to look under the covers, but trust us – making the bed with dirty laundry underneath is worse. You must thoroughly understand employee experience and satisfaction to make worthwhile adjustments.
Sell Your Beautiful Soul
Ignoring the fact that we’re a marketing agency (😏), the best way to ensure current employees and excellent prospects want to work at your organization is to make it clear that you are, in fact, a fantastic organization to work for. This is why creative, high-quality, and optimized (i.e. effective) marketing content is crucial. We recommend starting by getting a really good grasp on your brand voice, target audience, and company core values (mentioned earlier). Keeping these three things in mind, circulate marketing content that celebrates your awesomeness! This will include those great values we discussed, community support, internal perks, etc.
The Great Awakening isn’t something to fear – in fact, it’s something to be celebrated! People globally are choosing to work for companies that they can stand behind, to pour their creativity, hard work, and valuable energy into companies that respect them and their efforts. Embrace The Great Awakening and you are embracing a team of satisfied, excited individuals who want to help you accomplish your goals.
If you’re feeling dizzy at the thought of starting on this journey, one that may mean fundamental changes to your organization’s methods, please get in touch directly. Our experts would love to chat about company-specific tactics that will help you get to where you want to go.
Clare Tries is the Founder and CEO of Clash Creative. She is a creative copywriter and passionate marketing professional with over a decade of experience in the IT industry. Her company provides collaborative and rewarding marketing solutions for IT industry and small business professionals.
