The last
year has introduced us to a bunch of new concepts in the post-COVID
workforce. The first was the Great
Resignation, with an estimated 20% of workers planning to quit their jobs in
2022. And, most recently, Quiet
Quitting, where workers don’t actually quit their jobs, but instead, put in the
bare minimum of work required to keep their employers happy, without putting in
a minute of extra effort. To me, these
are both problems with the employers, not the employees. Because if employees were actually happy, respected
and engaged in their jobs, they wouldn’t feel the need to quit their jobs,
either outright or in mindset while still employed. This post will help us diagnose if you have
any problems that need fixing in your business, to help stem this tide.
A Couple Unhappy Workforces as a Case Study
Let’s look
at a couple industries where quitting seems to be at an all-time high: K-12
education and restaurants. These are two
industries I know well, with my wife a 2nd grade teacher and me
owning a business serving the restaurant industry. In both of these industries, it is pretty
clear to me why people are quitting; they are being asked to work their tails
off with very little reward, where it is so much easier for them to switch
industries and make materially more money elsewhere. Not to mention how dysfunctional these types
of businesses can be, without a lot of ways for their new ideas to be heard or
acted upon, where businesses are being mismanaged, oftentimes with a lot of
bureaucracy. Why would anyone want to
work in that environment? Anyone that
does is because they feel they have no other options based on their skillsets
or because it is simply their passion project giving back to their communities,
without making compensation or job satisfaction their ultimate drivers. Which is not a great position to be in, for
the employee or the employer.
Reality Check
So, how do
we fix this? We start with common sense
that 20% of workers are not resigning the workforce overall, they are resigning
YOU!! There must be something you are
doing that they are unhappy with that needs to be resolved. That could be something like low compensation
levels, their mundane day-to-day tasks, your company culture, lack of upward
career mobility, a bad boss, lack of job flexibility or whatever. So, if you are experiencing high levels of
employee turnover, it is time to look in the mirror and start auditing
everything you are doing, with a post-COVID mindset of what employees are
looking for. Let’s dig into that a
little bit deeper.
Study Compensation Levels
Going back
to our case study above, can restaurant workers really make a living wage at
$15 per hour? That is only $30,000 per
year, in a world where inflation is off the charts. After tax, that is only around $2,000 per
month. Let’s say half of that goes to
covering their rent, and that leaves the other half, or $33 per day, to cover
all their other living expenses. That
math simply doesn’t work. Not to
mention, they have to be on the job in person, when all their other friends are
getting more flexible jobs that allow them to work from home.
And, the
same thing for the teachers. They are
teaching our kids and setting up the future of our country. It disgusts me that movie stars and sports
athletes are making $25MM per year, and teachers’ starting pay is around
$50,000 for doing a TON of work, dealing with hostile parents, and working in
dysfunctional workplaces where the rules keep changing each year. Enough already, teachers need to be better
respected and a material bump in pay to justify those working conditions. We as a society need to better value the
roles they are playing, and all chip in with slightly higher real estate tax
bills.
So, what
does this mean for you? Stop thinking of
your industry in a vacuum, and stop using historical pay levels as a baseline
benchmark. You may need a drastic salary
increase to retain and attract new talent in today’s market. And, employees will seek out work in other
industries, if they are unhappy with the compensation levels in your business
or industry. So, when studying average
pay by role, do so across industries. And,
I didn’t talk about studying benefits packages here, but you should do that, as
well, to make sure you are in line with the market. A good benefits management company can help
you benchmark yourself versus other employers.
If you
determine you cannot profitably afford market rate salary increases, you may
have a material problem on your hands.
But, hopefully, raising your prices, to better afford market rate
salaries, will help you fund these increases.
God knows my restaurant bills have been going way up, as restaurants are
paying their staffs more in an effort to try to retain them. But, if price increases are not digestible by
your customers, you may need to face the hard fact your business model may be
broken, and may not survive without a material change in the model metrics.
Study Job Flexibility
Thanks to
COVID, everyone prefers a more flexible job environment, starting with the
option to work from home. So, don’t be
stuck in the Stone Age, requiring everyone to be in the office every day. That will allow the staff more flexibility to
save on commuting time, parking costs, gas costs, car costs, etc. and enables
them to be closer to their families for taking care of their kids or attending
their local school events or other appointments they may have. You don’t need to “see them”, to know if they
are doing a good job. You will see their
success in the data coming from their work (e.g., sales results, tasks
completed).
Study Company Culture
If your
staff are grumbling behind your back that they work in a “toxic work
environment”, you have a major problem on your hands, and need to “plug the
hole” before the whole “bucket” drains empty.
Survey your staff, either directly or through an HR consultant. Ask what they like and don’t like about the
business, and then lean into your strengths and repair your weaknesses. Be sure to calculate your net promoter score
of your employees, not just your customers, and shoot to keep that number at
8.5/10 or higher.
Study Management
You may love
one of your managers, sucking up to you as their boss, but their direct
reporting employees may hate them. Be
sure to complete 360 degree reviews of your employees, so they have a chance to
speak openly about their boss, at the same time their performance is being
reviewed. Nothing will get a person
looking for the door faster than being micromanaged, disrespected or verbally
abused by a bad manager. So, you may
need to part with someone you like, for the greater good.
Study Career Paths
People want
to stay in companies where they can see upward mobility in their careers. They will give you a couple years in their
current role, but what comes next? Is
your company growing, to create new layers of management for them to grow
into? If so, great. But, if not, the employees may get bored and
decide to find a new challenge. So, put
plans in place, for each role of the company, where they can easily get
visibility into how their responsibilities and compensation will increase over
time, to give them “hooks” to want to stay working with you over the long run.
Study Day-to-Day Tasks
Nobody wants
to work in a job they don’t enjoy. So,
ask yourself: would you enjoy that job?
If not, figure out what it would take to make that job more
enjoyable. If it is eight hours a day of
mundane, brain numbing tasks, figure out how best to make the role more
stimulating—maybe sharing mundane tasks across a broader team that is doing
more strategic tasks for most of their work.
Closing Thoughts
So, this
concept of the Great Resignation and Quit Quitting is really hogwash to me, as
the focus is on the employees, not the employers. These people need to work to pay their
bills. You just need to figure out how
they will want to work for YOU, and not be looking for the door looking to work
for someone else that better values, respects, challenges and motivates
them. After doing this internal
self-study, if the mirror is not broken, keep up the great work. If you are staring at a bunch of broken
glass, it is time to start fresh and rethink everything you are doing.
For future posts, please follow me on Twitter at: @georgedeeb.
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