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The Great Resignation, the Great Rehire, the Great Reshuffle and, more recently, “quiet quitting” and “quick quitting” . . . it’s a dizzying employment market! As recessionary fears loom, it’s vital for organizations to understand and tackle these talent concerns.
Quiet quitting refers to employees only doing the bare minimum of what their job requires — going through the motions without interest or energy. Quick quitting refers to employees who leave their jobs before the one-year mark.
Read on to learn what your organization can do to combat these problematic trends.
What Employers Can Do
Both quiet quitting and quick quitting are signs that your employees aren’t happy on the job. According to the Pew Research Center, the main motivations people cited for quitting their jobs in 2021 were low pay, lack of opportunities for advancement and feeling disrespected. Close behind were lack of flexibility, insufficient childcare and subpar benefits. Recessionary concerns are likely to exacerbate employee demands as they face a wall of economic uncertainty.
So, what strategies should employers focus on to boost the enthusiasm, productivity and longevity of their employees? Start with the strategies below.
Give Workers Flexibility
Flexibility — in both when and where to work — contributes to workers’ wellbeing and happiness. A University of Minnesota study found that employees who have more say in their work schedules sleep better, get more exercise, rest more when they’re sick and have better emotional health. Further, 64% of respondents to Gartner’s 2021 Digital Worker Experience Survey said that if they were to look for a new job, they’d seek one that provides flexibility over one that doesn’t.
Offering your employees the chance to work remotely is another way to boost their wellbeing and make them stick around. Even before the pandemic, a 2018 Stanford University study showed that remote employees work more hours and take less time off yet quit their jobs only half as frequently as in-office colleagues. A whopping 84% of respondents to Owl Labs’ State of Remote Work 2021 study said working remotely makes them happy.
Help with Health & Wellness
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that healthier workers tend to be more productive employees — hardly quiet quitters. Workers who can take care of themselves use less sick time, work less when sick and often have more energy and better emotional health.
The first-line strategy for helping employees to be healthier is to provide them with solid health insurance. But there’s plenty more workplaces can do to help, including offering workers wellbeing programs that help them set and meet goals, providing ergonomic desk options and encouraging taking breaks, vacations and sick time.
Get Assistance with Hiring & Compensation
While there’s no silver bullet to find employees who are guaranteed to work enthusiastically for the long haul, using executive recruiting services to find the right leadership can make a big difference. It’s an excellent strategy to seek out executives who have a demonstrated ability to build a supportive and productive company structure and a culture that helps workers do and feel their best.
Paying people appropriately is another key strategy for keeping a happy workforce. Using compensation consulting services can help you devise a compensation strategy that can ensure that all your workers are satisfied while keeping you on budget to meet organizational goals. Enacting and maintaining an equitable and attractive compensation plan is a sure-fire way to retain your top performing employees as we may be heading into a recession.
Be Human
Ultimately, all strategies for helping people stay satisfied and engaged at work, especially amid uncertain economic times, come back to one piece of advice: Be human. That is, think about the employee as a person first and an employee second. What does this person need to live a stable, healthy and happy life? What can your organization do to assist or even help them thrive amid an economic slowdown?
Implementing these strategies can help you cut down on quiet and quick quitting — and get your workforce back to a place of strength and satisfaction.