Today, employees are renegotiating their social contracts with work… We’ve gone from demanding that work stay out of our personal lives to quitting if it won’t.
Jennifer Moss. workplace expert & author
For better or for worse, the pandemic forced us to sink or swim. Somehow, we swam. We learned new skills, increased our emotional flexibility, and learned optimism and the capacity to rebound.
Takeaways of Note:
What Employees want and where positive change is happening.
Mental Health Support – employers need to be the kind of place where employees want to work – a culture that nurtures employees instead of burning them out: (1) more personalized communication when an issue arises, not overloaded with information all at once; (2) listen better to what employees have to say; (3)
use feedback to make changes that meet new employee expectations.
Hybrid and Return to Office – concept of hybrid work has yet to be fine-tuned; often means people inside the office still sit on Zoom while meeting with their coworkers at home; to make hybrid more effective, and improve relationships at work, it will be important to find the right mix of in-person & remote work.
Paid Leave – from extended parental leave to caregiver leave to vacation days to sick leave to bereavement leave to “Ramp Back” time… firms have set themselves apart by increasing paid leave policies.
Improving Fairness – relentless pursuit of equity & a reimagined workplace inclusivity… to reflect & to build our teams of diverse individuals
Bonus Nuggets
Why Are People Leaving?
…one of the biggest reasons is not pay, per a study of more than 31,000 people in 31 countries; It’s unsustainable workloads.
The most compelling data was the increase in time spent “collaborating.” For example, between February 2020 and February 2022:
– weekly Teams meetings increased by 252%!
– 6 billion more emails were sent
– we were chatting 32% more frequently
– average after-hours work increased by 28%
According to another recent study (published 1Q22) by Ernst & Young, 54% of workers left a previous job because their boss wasn’t empathetic to their struggles at work, and 49% said employers were unsympathetic to their personal lives.
A “business as usual” mentality caused a ripple effect that some experts believe may have contributed to the Great Resignation.