3 Ways to Prevent the Great Resignation Wave From Drowning Your Business

Now that the world is witnessing the Covid-19 pandemic coming to an end, businesses around the world face another consequence that came in its aftermath, the Great Resignation. Although many believe this trend is directly related to Covid-19 restrictions and poor pay, there are numerous other factors driving employees to massively leave their jobs and rethink their work and life values.

According to the American Bureau of Labor statistics, 4 million employees quit their jobs in July 2021. Although many employers believe that younger workers aged 20-25 are behind the Great Resignation phenomenon, statistics show quite the opposite. The highest increase in resignation rates is among mid-level employees aged 30-45.

Furthermore, there’s a staggering difference in industries when it comes to the highest turnover rates. While some lines of business like manufacturing and finance have experienced a resignation decrease, 3.6% of medical workers accompanied by 4.7% of employees in the IT sector have quit their jobs over the past two years.

This comes as no surprise knowing that people working in these fields carried a massive burden during the pandemic due to the increased demand. Massive resignations came as a result of work overload, increased pressure, and burnout.

If your business is threatened by increasing resignation rates, keep reading. Here, you’ll find efficient ways to prevent increased resignation rates, improve employee experience and keep your business afloat.


Scale the Issue

Before you start searching for underlying causes of high turnover rates in your company, try to measure the problem you’re facing and the impact it has on your business.

First, you need to calculate your retention rate by dividing the number of employees who quit annually by the average total number of employees. Then use a similar formula to find out how many employees leave their jobs voluntarily compared with the number of layoffs or firings.

By doing this, you’ll get a clear picture of where your increased resignation rates stem from.

Once you have the numbers, focus on the impact that high turnover has on key business metrics. When workers leave your company, their workload will be distributed to the remaining team members who may already be overloaded. Furthermore, with each resignation, your remaining employees will lack the skillset and resources to finish projects successfully. This may affect work quality, your team productivity, and your revenue in the long run.

Identify the Critical Causes Using Data Analytics

Assessing the resignation issues through numbers is the first step towards a solution. What you need to do next is to analyze data to discover underlying causes of high resignation rates. The reasons for leaving a job can be different, so you need to look into various factors like the size of pay raises, the time between promotions, compensation, objective performance evaluations, and training opportunities.

This is a demanding task, but the good news is that advanced tech solutions, like software for employee monitoring, may offer in-depth, real-time information about employees’ activities. This data will tell you whether some of your team members may be slipping into burnout because of work overload. Or they may be disengaged because they lack training or support to perfect their skillset. Burnout and disengagement alike can be significant factors for higher resignation rates.

By identifying potential pitfalls that may cause a massive turnover, you’ll be able to take specific actions to tackle these issues and enhance employee experience and engagement.

You can also divide your employees into categories according to their location or role in the company to get a better understanding of how employee experience differs across specific employee categories.

This detailed data analysis will show you who is at the highest risk of resigning, and also the things you can do to retain employees like providing additional support and guidance.

Create a Tailored Employee Retention Policy

Once you’ve discovered the critical pain points that drive resignation rates, you can create a customized Retention Policy to address each of these issues and find effective solutions.

For example, you may find out that employees of color are more likely to quit their jobs compared to their white co-workers. This may call for action on enhancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) culture.

You may also find out that employees tend to leave your company due to the prolonged time between promotions. Knowing this, you may consider updating your advancement policies.

Finally, you need to encourage your employees to take breaks whenever they feel overwhelmed. Burnout is a serious issue harming employees' mental and physical health, leading them to quit their jobs. By fostering people-first culture, and introducing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) you’ll offer your employees much-needed support, counseling, and follow-up services.

Once you incorporate all these effective solutions into your Employee Retention Policy, you’ll ensure that your employees are happy, healthy, and satisfied with their workplace.

Final Words

Data analytics can be a reliable ally in tackling the Great Resignation phenomenon. You can gain a detailed understanding of the reasons and factors that contribute to higher turnover rates.

So before you implement any of these steps to battle the resignation issue, consider investing in advanced data analytics tools that will help you make data-driven decisions and retain top talent.
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