What is the Great Resignation
Kent R.
It's nearly impossible to read the news or scroll through Twitter without seeing something about the Great Resignation, but the breathless coverage and constant corporate bellyaching doesn't seem to be doing a good job of explaining what it actually is and why it's happening.
So that's what we're tackling on this episode of the Stop Hating Mondays podcast.
TRANSCRIPT
(Transcripts are auto-generated and may contain minor errors)
Caanan
It's nearly impossible to read the news or scroll through Twitter without seeing something about the great resignation, but the breathless coverage and constant corporate bellyaching doesn't seem to be doing a good job of explaining what it actually is and why it's happening.
So that's what we're going to try to do on this episode of the Stop Hating Mondays podcast.
I'm Caanan and I'm here with Kent and today we're tackling the great resignation.
Caanan
All right. There's a lot to say here, Kent, so I'm just going to keep this one very simple… this question.
What is the great resignation?
Kent
Yeah, I think this is something that's obviously just happened, so we were all sort of shocked trying to figure out what's happening. And there's sort of a simple answer, but there's a much more nuanced answer that I don't think a lot of people are aware of. So, of course the great resignation is, in large part, about the fact that it's an employees job market, meaning employers are struggling to find and retain talent.
This happens regularly throughout history, just like the stock market ebbs and flows, so does this. This is an exaggerated version of that because of the current economic conditions. But what a lot of people don't know is, you know, in addition to it being middle and high income earners with decisions to make – realizing it's a good time to explore other opportunities – it's also a lot of later-stage workers who've decided to – particularly directly during the pandemic – to retire earlier. Employers made it attractive for them to retire earlier or they realized they could just chop off those final couple few years that they had planned to work because of the savings that, particularly, more seasoned workers who were able to realize – not moving, not traveling, not spending a lot of money for two years – that bulked up their resources enough to where they could get out of the job market – the employment world much earlier than expected.
So that had a huge impact, leading to what we call the great resignation. And then, of course, there's something that I'm most interested in talking about, which is the fact that entry level employees – in particular entry level employees – are having the ability to job hop.
Caanan
This is pretty fascinating 'cause this is not quite… This is fairly rare.
Kent
Yeah, it's not so much a resignation as it is a job hop by many than statistics. Creating the appearance of a great resignation. But in fact, in this kind of job market where they're in the advantageous position, they can be doing more job hopping.
Caanan
OK, so speaking of this, we've been hearing from a lot of business leaders who are voicing frustration at their inability to hire entry level employees. In fact, a potential client reached out for help recently and essentially said, “why can't I hire entry level employees. We need our bench.”
So what are your thoughts on that? Why can't they hire entry level employees?
Kent
Yeah, well it goes… It goes back to what I just said. And we're huge workers advocates across all levels, and we work with very progressive, employee-centric companies that want to do the best they can do.
So this inability on the part of companies and hiring managers to understand why entry level employees are tough to secure is baffling to me.
It's because they can make more money elsewhere and.
Caanan
It's really that simple, isn't it?
Kent
Yeah, and it just it really bothers me because, you know, I don't want to name names here, but being… We've had a lot of discussions with clients who are very frustrated and they feel like potential candidates and even current employees at that entry level are trying to take advantage of them.
You know, kind of like what do they want? It's an entry level job, kou know?!
Well, that entry level job, the pay out there oftentimes doesn't add up to enough to live on. So, something I've come up with and I've been using with our clients in the last months to get them to see how this outlook is so dangerous – is reminding them that they're not calling their clients or their customers greedy when those customers and clients won't pay a particular price.
Right?
Yes, and you know the response has not always been warm and fuzzy, but that's all there is to it. You're not blaming your clients for being greedy when they won't pay a particular price, you're attributing that to the market. To supply and demand. And you're making the appropriate adjustments.
What's happening with entry level people in particular, and actually many other employment levels, is the ability to move on. It is an outpouring of the business market under which we operate. And if somebody is going to get a job that pays more, you're showing them no loyalty, why should they show you loyalty when they can go down the street and make more money. Period.
This person is not being a… Yeah, it's like I want to give away so many examples here of direct quotes we've heard, but… Yeah this person, they're not being greedy, they're just being smart.
They're doing what you do as a business leader.
They're doing what your clients and customers do. They're looking for the best thing to suit their needs, your clients and customers are looking for the best price to suit their needs.
Why would I pay $20.00 for a bowl at this place when I can go to this place and pay $16.00 for the same bowl? Again, you're not calling me greedy because I'm going to the other place to pay $4 less, you're realizing…
Caanan
Right?
Kent
…it's a market condition.
Managers and leaders need to realize that this portion of the great resignation is completely market driven.
Caanan
OK, So what is one tip you would give a company that's struggling to secure talent during the great resignation?
Kent
Yeah, well there's you know the obvious things. I talked about this in a previous podcast. Like, especially at that level, those core benefits and money matters. So having made that painfully obvious. I will say something else, which is really make attractive your culture.
This I talked to too… We've talked about too in previous episodes really.
Show how your place of business is a place that this person will want to be a part of, because, for instance, you're socially aware and you have a commitment to being the kind of workplace that people actually want to work at.
So, in addition to those obvious things, like a competitive wage, in this market and benefits really highlight why your place is a place that people should want to work.
