The past recession and our current, slow resurgence towards an economic recovery are probably like every other economic cycle in history. Granted, some are slower than others (I hear the lamenting on this one from here), but all of them produce similarly positioned results.
One of which (as a friend reminded me of today) is– the “Quit Rate.” You see, during a recession, people are frozen to the seats in their cubicles, not wanting to make a move for fear of losing their livelihoods and not being able to replace them – even if they have no affinity whatsoever for what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and who they’re doing it for. During a recession, the only thing keeping the derrieres in seats is the pure fear that comes from not being sure how one is going to make the mortgage payment or feed one’s family.
Oh, the times they are a changing. In fact, one of the best early indicators of economic recovery is the “Quit Rate” – that point in time when people are comfortable enough to quit the jobs they despise (and the companies they despise working for) in pursuit of greener pastures. You know, the whole “Take this job and shove it” approach.
What does it mean to you? Well, if your house isn’t in order and you’ve neglected nurturing your talent because you had them glued to those chairs in cubicles through fear throughout the recession, then you might want to rethink your strategy. The companies that intentionally used the recession and all of its woes to deny employees raises, cut benefits, and generally treat employees like commodities are in for a rude awakening. Companies that capitalized on “fiscally responsible” programs all in the name of recession are going to get called out, in a pretty spectacular way. The ones who didn’t (you know who you are) sucked it up and retained talent during the recession losing substantial pieces of their profitability as a result, valued their employees knowing that one day they’d come out of it and would need that talent to capitalize on the resurrection of a better economy.
What makes this round different you ask? Two words – social media. It used to
be that companies worried about gossip in the community and workplace, now companies need to worry about social sites committed to calling out the companies that aren’t doing the right things. And, it isn’t about rewards and benefits; it’s about creating sustainable businesses with solid belief systems that employees can really, truly get behind.
By way of example, since I’ve been working in the HR world for many years now, I recall interviews 10 or 15 years ago when candidates primary concerns centered around how big – how big is the paycheck/car/expense account/benefits program? Now I hear questions about whether or not the company stands for something, has a belief system that aligns with theirs, has a purpose that is ethically sound, and whether a candidate is truly going to be able to contribute and be part of something bigger than themselves by selecting the XYZ company as the next, long-term stop in their career.
During this last recession, American workers were sold out in droves. Long term, corporate employees who considered themselves bulletproof ended up losing their jobs – and if you were lucky (or unlucky) enough not to have lost yours, you knew someone who did. Sadly, many of those folks are unemployed today. Wake up companies out there, the workforce has changed. If you’re not ready to respond to the change in the workforce, well, it’s likely that you won’t have one, at least not one that’s going to get the job done.
Back to the quit rate. It’s coming. Those employees lying in wait who have patiently endured long hours, low pay, low satisfaction working companies without awesome and aligned missions are on the move – the mass exodus is warming up at the starting gate.
Companies who did the right thing through this last round of economic disaster – brace yourself, your next round of stellar talent is headed your way.