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Mask mandates and social distancing – it’s nothing new. People all over the world have adapted and pressed on despite an ongoing deadly pandemic. Victory and normalcy seem to loom over the horizon. Even so, industry leaders have suddenly come face to face with a new challenge: the Great Resignation.
Inflation continuously rises, unaccompanied by cost of living pay adjustments. The situation leaves thousands of Americans stuck in limbo. After compounding hardships, thousands of workers continue to leave their jobs – the Great Resignation of 2021.
Why are people quitting their jobs en masse?
We’re currently in one of the worst supply chain instances seen in the last few decades. People now wait months for computers, graphics cards, even cars, to replenish stock. This sudden and drastic imbalance caused a violent surge in prices.
This phenomenon follows the COVID-19 pandemic that forced millions of people to stay home. Economic recovery has begun but appears to progress slowly.
The problem, in a nutshell, centers on a workforce that recently resumed working. They’re now faced with skyrocketing prices, but with the same wages as before. People re-emerged from quarantine just to slam straight into increased rent, food, gas, and other costs. Essential expenses now dwarf their paychecks in comparison.
A few industries suffered considerably greater losses than others, including the service, retail, and hospitality industries. Waiters and bartenders came back to a sudden surge of customers who were once stuck at home. This situation proves even more difficult with elevated health concerns due to COVID-19.
Couple a sudden influx of customers with their anger at rising prices. You’re left with overworked employees who cannot make ends meet and regularly face abuse for issues that they cannot control.
Tackling the Great Resignation
The problem may initially seem overwhelming, especially because we have next to zero control over the supply chain and over inflation. In essence, the Great Resignation indicates poor employee engagement and morale on a national scale.
Generally, employers have a few options for improving employee engagement. We will first take a surface-level glance at some of these options.
Pay Raises
Though a seemingly simple fix, pay raises may represent the single most difficult option on this list. A slowed economy affects business owners and employers just as much as it affects workers.
With that said, employers must keep in mind that employees can only stay at a position for as long as they can maintain the same quality of life. In other words, employees will start searching for a new job if their pay does not cover bills and essential expenses.
Bluntly put, passion for a job does not suffice for a rent or mortgage payment. This fact means that while an employee may not be due for a performance-based pay raise, they very well may be due for a cost of living adjustment raise.
Pay Bonuses
Some companies chose to opt for special pandemic-related pay bonuses as a way of showing appreciation for the extraordinary challenges that workers face in 2021. This option can help assuage stressed employees and may help keep employees through ongoing tough times.
Even so, pay bonuses have limited reach. This can pose significant problems in the case of the ongoing pandemic which outlasted thousands of peoples’ expectations. Americans may not see relief from severe inflation for a long time – a period that far outlasts a one-time pay bonus.
Offering or Increasing Benefits
An organization that does not offer health benefits may want to consider finding a program that fits. Your employees’ health may fall unpredictably, causing gaps or even termination in employment.
If you already provide health benefits, you may want to consider allowing employees to work remotely if your industry allows. Salesforce, among other companies, has decided to make remote work permanent.
Another idea employers can opt for includes paid time off. Any sort of benefit you can think of that you do not offer may be worth considering.
Recovering from the Great Resignation
Your body can take days to heal from a cut that happened in a split second. In the same way, the road to recovery for businesses from the Great Resignation may twist and extend longer than you may expect.
Since the Great Resignation primarily interacts with employee engagement, or the lack thereof, you may not find a clear answer on how to proceed. The economy and work environment of the United States may emerge forever changed.
The need to adapt
This possibility would mean that employers and business owners must adapt or risk failure. Something needs to change, whether it involves how you treat employees, how much you pay them, what products you produce, or which customer demographic you target.
After having mostly worked from home since 2020, Americans may find certain industries and products less appealing or less relevant to their needs. As an example, curbside services saw a sharp incline since the middle of 2020 and have not declined in the slightest.
Talent inflation
Savvy employers that navigate and make it through these difficult times will only do so with help to operate and serve customers. A side effect of the pandemic and of the Great Resignation is not only in the inflation of prices for products, but also for good talent. Since people left their jobs in search of better pay and benefits, good employees will cost more to find.
The costs do not just involve money, however. In other words, employees need to, and will know whether their employers value them or not. Job seekers in the Great Resignation will pick and choose their options much more selectively, since we all know companies and businesses are actively hiring.
Periodically, whether through innovation or through unexpected occurrence, industries, markets, and economies change. The invention of the automobile gave rise to countless new opportunities for manufacturing and enterprise.
Right now, the aftereffects of a global pandemic are continually molding and shaping the world towards something new and different.
As a recent and sobering example, John Deere stands as an example of what can happen if an organization ignores the ongoing problems with inflation and employee engagement.
You may not treat your employees harshly. You may regularly show them appreciation and even have positive relationships with them. The surrounding circumstances treat them harshly and demand you to improve your treatment of your employees, whether through raises, benefits, or another method.
Tools and resources
Regardless of what fits best, you may need to change something about the situation surrounding your employees. At this critical point in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, your business may demand more attention of you than ever before.
Overwhelming workloads and new problems are right where TimeClick steps in. As an affordable and effective time tracking solution, TimeClick helps business owners not only track employee time, but also manage PTO in addition to a whole host of other features.
As you will see from our customers, TimeClick does everything time-related for you. You get to focus on the important tasks only an employer can do. In short, we save you time spent totaling up employee hours so you can focus on your customers and your team.
If this interests you at all, you can try TimeClick absolutely free for fourteen days. For more information on TimeClick’s features, or for any other questions give us a shout at (435) 753-4102 or at sales@timeclick.com.