Seventeen months after the start of the global pandemic, organizations continue to encounter new challenges with employee satisfaction. After Covid-19 forced many companies to quickly pivot to flexible work environments, employee perspectives experienced rapid changes as well.

According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index published in March 2021, one year after the pandemic began, as much as 41 percent of the global workforce are considering resignation. For Generation Z employees, that figure is even higher, at 54 percent.

Demand for flexibility among younger generations is not necessarily a new trend. In 2019, an article by Forbes reported that as much as 92 percent of the millennial workforce considers flexibility to be a top priority in searching for a job.

However, the rising number of employees quitting their jobs to pursue that flexibility is a disruptive new trend that has been coined “The Great Resignation” and is particularly concerning for corporations in the United States. With unemployment rates on a downward trend, employers are already finding themselves competing for the available talent.

Now that employees have had the taste of remote work environments, companies may need to reconsider their work patterns to avoid turnover and increase their employee value proposition.

Considerations for Tackling Flexibility at Your Company

There is no doubt remote work will play a role in determining where employees choose to invest their time and energy in the future. During this unprecedented wave of resignations, the most obvious opportunity for companies to reduce risk of turnover is to consider offering remote or hybrid work options.

Doing so requires appropriate planning and execution to avoid productivity losses, but recent research from PwC shows that 83 percent of employers found their shift to remote work to be successful for their company. Furthermore, attitudes towards remote work have increased since June 2020 as both employers and employees have uncovered ways to make work-from-home more effective.

In cases where flexible work is not elected, transparency and empathy from managers may help increase a company’s employee value proposition without modifying work patterns and offering career development options. By maintaining an open communication line and seeking input from employees, managers can make those employees feel more valued and engaged and ultimately more productive, thus enhancing employee buy-in.

To learn more, contact the Ascendis Leadership Academy to take the Organizational Leadership Skills Profile. Please contact Sue Drake at sdrake@drakerg.com for an overview of the Profile and ways in which it may be used in your organization.