By Sulabh Singhal
Will Asia face a wave of mass resignations in the post pandemic workforce?
A recent Wall Street Journal article revealed a wave of resignations in the US. According to the Labour Department, in April this year, the share of US workers leaving their jobs was at its peak of 2.7% – the highest since at least 2000.
This is certainly interesting, from an Asian perspective. More than 81 million individuals in Asia have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. Many are struggling and are eager to get back to the workforce. For those who are gainfully employed, many are worried of potential retrenchments if the economic situation does not improve.
At a time when people are hanging on to their jobs, why is there a wave of resignations in the US? HR consultants attributed this trend to people’s reluctance to return to their physical offices, preferring the flexibility of remote work. Others are wary of stepping into the workplace until the virus is completely arrested. Some are burned out from the pandemic workload and stress, while others might have decided to change career paths after more than a year of reflection.
Some of these factors, which stand out more than others, may be equally applicable to Asia. In a recent 2021 survey on Workforce and Talent Trends conducted by Michael Page within APAC, four out of five respondents said they were equally or more productive working from home. In fact, employees do not want to go back to the way things were after more than a year of working from home. Meanwhile, there are others who just feel completely burnt out navigating these new norms set about by the pandemic.
Get things right in a post pandemic world, or risk losing talents
That is why understanding every stage or moment of an employee journey, from recruiting and IT to training and development, ought to be the new standard. Otherwise, companies risk losing their best people to organisations that are getting things right. Losing valuable talent or having a workforce that feels unmotivated at work has a direct effect on the business and its customers.
This marks the next phase in evolution of the workforce – a refreshed post-pandemic work life where employers’ expectations and evaluation of workforce practices need to evolve along with what employees need. And time is of the essence. Companies cannot wait for the annual employee survey to evaluate employee sentiments. Signals beyond surveys, such as voice, text and video feedback, should be continuously collected. With the help of AI and data analytics, actionable insights across employee journeys or moments can help companies act on each employee’s unique experience.
In planning for this post-pandemic workforce where face-to-face interaction with colleagues is significantly reduced, companies will need to prove that the employees’ voice is still very much valued, if not more.
Redesign employee experience by mastering the art of listening
More departments like IT, workplace services, customer experience are becoming key touchpoints for understanding and engaging with employees. Besides merely collecting data, they need to extract greater value to understand employee’s voice. Access to data-driven insights is key to driving a successful enterprise-wide strategy. Leveraging employee experience and listening tools can help organisations to receive and act on real-time employee sentiments promptly, which in turn give employees reassurance that they can easily surface issues and ideas as they happen.
The value of listening has been proven. Gartner’s research showed that employers that support employees with their life experience see a 23% increase in the number of employees reporting better mental health and a 17% increase in the number of employees reporting better physical health. There is also a real benefit to employers, who see a 21% increase in the number of high performers compared to organisations that don’t provide the same degree of support to their employees.
So, right now, what can employers do to take that first step into a new and refreshed workforce?
- Make an organisational commitment to a culture of thriving, healthy and happy employees, with the management team walking the talk. The initiatives that drive this culture need to be holistic.
- Measure the effectiveness of the initiatives and programs put in place to drive the culture. Introducing new initiatives is not enough. It is important to assess if the efforts truly meet the needs of employees.
- Equip managers with resources to help their teams, because for many, the employee experience comes down to their interactions with their managers.
- Improve communication channels between teams. Without physical interactions to build relationships in the workplace, virtual interactions need to improve exponentially. Conducting a network analysis to understand these macro patterns of engagement and productivity can be used to shed light on organisational silos, communication gaps, how quickly new employees become integrated into companies, which teams are at risk of productivity loss, and which collaborative activities and behaviours are having a desired impact.
- Crowdsource ideas from your employees to better understand what initiatives will truly resonate with them. In most organisations, initiatives are originated at the top and lack ground sentiments, which result in failure.
At the end of the day, focusing on a recovery that aims for a human-centred future of work can help to shape an energised and motivated workforce.
Sulabh Singhal is a Senior Director of Professional Services at Medallia
