The Great Resignation

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has tracked and reported job openings, leaves, and turnover (JOLT) for the past 30 years.  When the pandemic hit there was a historical drop in employees leaving. But, as the country begins to rebound, we’re seeing historically large spikes in workers leaving jobs for other companies and careers.  Enter  “The Great Resignation”.  How do companies get their arms around so much intellectual property leaving before it is too late?

It may already be too late.  As defined by The Bureau of Labor Statistics, “separations”  includes quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations. The quit rate, which measures the number of jobs quit as a percentage of total employment, reached 2.8% in April 2021, the highest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began collecting data in 2001.  So your intellectual property may have already left your building.  Why and what changed this time?

The pandemic has given employees time to think about what they want their careers to look like, and more importantly has empowered them to make work choices that better suit their overall family health and wellbeing.  We are entering into a period of time where people are voluntarily leaving their jobs at rates not seen in years.  What can be done?

Now your people data becomes critical to tell you the stories you need to know. How confident are you with the state of your data? Organizations fundamentally need to change the way they track and view their people data.  They need to look through a different lens on the way they are using technology for insights and how that information is shared within the organization. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the industry gold standard for overall trends – it is the “macro” data. But it is your company’s historical data (the “micro” data) that history modifies.  It can get stale and does not have as much trend significance, especially during this unique period of time. A solid data driven approach becomes paramount.

How will your organization adapt to this new world? How solid is your people data strategy? Now is an opportunistic time to revisit how you track, view and disseminate your data and ensure it is actionable and NOT just informational.  If you don’t have the expertise to make that transition between informational and actionable, now is the time to find it.  It’s a difference that could impact your organization’s bottom line and retain your greatest asset – your employees.