HR leaders are being double-teamed by the Great Resignation and “quiet quitting,” a one-two punch on morale, productivity and ultimately, the bottom line.
Roughly 81 million Americans have fled their employers since the beginning of 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic to re-evaluate their priorities in life, employees have been heading for greener pastures, demanding higher salaries, better working conditions, improved work-life balance and more opportunities to advance their career. As a result, the scales have tipped in favor of labor, with most employers having to bend over backward to attract and retain talent.
In addition to enduring this historic turnover, companies are contending with another toxic trend, in which an employee is physically present at work, but has made the decision to cut back on going above and beyond and set stricter boundaries for themselves.
Quiet quitters make up at least half the workforce in the United States, according to Gallup. Indicators of this troubling behavior include employees refusing to do projects outside of their job descriptions, not actively participating in meetings and consistently logging on late or leaving early during the workday.
Now, whether or not you subscribe to the Great Resignation (or Reset) idea or the quiet quitting concept, the reality is that the workplace has changed, driven by the expectations of the modern employee. What matters to them for their personal and professional development and growth is what becomes the driving force of where they choose to work.
Both the Great Resignation and quiet quitting have been fueled by lack of employee engagement, which took another step backward during the second quarter of 2022. Although engaged workers still represent 32% of the workforce, those who consider themselves actively disengaged increased to 18%, according to a recent Gallup poll. The ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is now 1.8 to 1, the lowest in almost a decade.
