The “great resignation” describes a unique phenomenon that started during the pandemic and
continues to date. Millions and millions of Americans quit their jobs in search of a better life,
leaving an unprecedent labor shortage in many industries, especially hospitality, retail,
constructions, transportation, but not only. Only in November 2021, 4,5 million people in the
United States decided to resign or change their jobs, following other several millions making the
same choice in the months before.
While specialists are analyzing this phenomenon and trying to identify its causes and predict its
impact, one thing appears to be certain. Adjusting our lives through the pandemic revealed an
unexpected outcome: that something else is possible. The conventional thinking about work has
been challenged. Long embedded work practices became ineffective, old ways of top-down task-
oriented management are obsolete, and dysfunctional relationships between employers,
managers and employees make the work environment disempowering, which results in lower
productivity. Some of these tendencies are not completely new, but they were accelerated during
the pandemic.
People, who were interviewed by media and research companies, discovered that having a job
doesn’t have to look a certain way, that longer hours and overwork don’t lead to better results, on
the contrary, that health, both physical and mental, is more important than money, and doing
what they love give them peace of mind and does matter. Life is more than a long to-do list and,
it’s just not worth it to waste their energy and effort in a place where they don’t experience being
respected, appreciated, and empowered. So, they quit.
While you still need a job, you actually don’t have to tolerate unworkability.
There may be a combination of reasons behind the “great resignation”, but they can’t be
separated from the pursuit of creating one’s life. People want to be empowered and be owners of
their own lives, not to be faced with painful choices like either family or job, either health or
money, either good relationships or good results.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the same word – “resignation” – can be used to describe both
the act of leaving a position and the experience of being resigned, of accepting something
undesirable, yet seen as unavoidable.
I see the “great resignation” as a wake up from resignation and numbness many employees were
experiencing, and as a wake-up call for employers, CEOs, managers and anyone in leadership
positions working with teams of people.
The companies, big or small, facing labor shortages, have an opportunity to innovate, not in
terms of processes and technologies, but in terms of people, relationships and communication.
Our consulting offerings are designed to turn the “great resignation” into a “great
empowerment”.
We are here to empower companies and organizations facing the impact of this phenomenon, to
create an environment where people want to stay. Not because they have to, or to get their
paycheck, but because they are empowered and freed up to communicate.
We are committed to work with individuals, who chose to leave their previous jobs, to create
another professional pathway or start their own businesses. But mostly we have the tools to
empower anyone who wants to get away from old practices and take on the next level of
performance.
There is a caveat though. For this to happen, both companies, organizations and individuals need
to be willing to transform, to deal with uncomfortable conversations, and go beyond what they
think they already know. This is where the magic happens.