Welcome to the ‘Great Reprioritization’

The ‘Great Resignation’ is not slowing down. Employees are remaining emboldened to leave their jobs for better opportunities; they want their professional lives and their personal goals and values to align.

In this context, Morning Consult has rebranded the ‘Great Resignation’ as the ‘Great Reprioritization’.

The intelligence company’s survey of 6,600 US adults found that 14% had left their jobs since the pandemic started; 16% found a new job, and 12% switched industry or profession.

And the major causes were pay, toxic work environment (including bad managers), and better work-life balance.

“Ultimately, most change drivers boil down to workers prioritizing what’s important rather than accepting circumstances that feel inflexible or set in stone due to pandemic-driven policy changes at many companies,” the report stated.

This is in line with findings from mthree’s survey, which found that culture also has a major role to play in the ‘Great Resignation’ – particularly for millennials and Gen Z. 50% saw culture as an important consideration when job hunting; 41% said it was the main consideration.

Doing hybrid work right

Morning Consult also found that flexible working is a major cause of the ‘Great Reprioritization’. 39% of workers said they would consider quitting if they were asked to return to the office full time – this rose to 55% of those who are fully remote and 50% for part-time remote employees.

However, it doesn’t seem like US workers want to work remotely full time. Just 15% of hybrid workers want to switch to full remote, and 44% of workers would prefer to do most of their work in person.

So, it seems like hybrid working is the future. While there are major benefits of working from home – aka it makes life easier, particularly around healthy eating and exercise – many workers told Morning Consult they found work harder remotely. There were issues around communication and workplace recognition for remote workers.

Despite knowing they need to embrace flexible and hybrid work, employers are unsure about the models they need to implement.

The report found: “Decisions about how and where to work are weighed in the context of personal values and health concerns, as the pandemic’s effects are far from over”.

It is essential that leaders do not assume the models they want are the same as what their teams would choose. Instead, ask workers what they want.

So in planning their future of work models, employers must ask themselves (and workers) these questions:

• How well do we understand our employees’ personal values?
• How do our current strategies and plans reflect the range of our employees’ values?
• What do our employees expect in terms of flexible work arrangements, and what can we do to meet those needs? How can we ensure communication and advancement opportunities for remote workers?
• What is our plan for adjusting compensation to stay competitive and reflect current work conditions?

Just some food for thought if employers want to survive, and thrive, in the ‘Great Reprioritization’.