COVID and the Great Resignation
It seems weird to start a year without some mention of COVID-19 in my blog, so I decided to tackle it again and share what we are seeing given the perspective of our research and so many leaders who are facing talent-related issues. Some of this I’ve said before, some is new, and some I’ll say again.
Having worked virtually since 1995, when the world was on dial-up, I can safely say that I’m an expert at this, having done it longer than most and in various capacities — as an agent, employee, exec team member, and founder. I’ve done it in larger companies and smaller ones, and I’ve done it hybrid: some functions at home, some not, solo where I’m the only person who works from home, and in a place where everyone works from home.
I can say safely that if you can do it on dial-up, you can do it in Zoom. Just look at the last two years. Culturally and otherwise, we made it work. People are tired, it’s exhausting sometimes, but we made it work.
So what does our future hold? Here are a few practices that are critical.
- Accept that flexibility and remote working are here to say. Jamie Dimon may tell you otherwise, but he’s wrong — at least for the majority of people who are tired of working for “the man” and want to be able to live their lives in a way that gives them choices. And that includes where and when they work and for whom. Hybrid is here to stay. It’ll look different in different cultures and countries, but the WFH genie is out of the bottle and it is not going back in. Pay attention to this or pay the price — for example, one of my colleagues just told me about a company that looks for competitors talking about making people come back to the office and then poaches their engineers with WHF offers.
- Recognize that people are growing tired of routines that got put into place when the pandemic began. We are going into year three now, and virtual cocktail hours or mandatory meetings feel forced. Keep spontaneity in your leadership repertoire, and remember to do what one long-time-ago Outsellian said to me: be deliberately undeliberate. Reach out to someone on Slack and say it’s a virtual “pop by their office door” and ask if they have time to chat for a few minutes with a Zoom link. Call a subgroup together for a CEO coffee hour or virtual lunch. Let people know why when you reach out, so they don’t get an oblique message that makes them think they’re about to be fired! But do stop in and make time to do a digital visit on Zoom with a Slack note first or walk the proverbial halls physically. Have a meet and greet with “classes” of new hires monthly or quarterly — it helps them meet one another, too. If you have a back-to-the-office-a-few-days-a-week culture then do a new hands orientation or go meet people at their offices when they are in the building. Some will be, some won’t, but you can find different ways to meet different people.
- Accept that, for a lot of people, COVID has been existential. Why are they working where they are working, doing what they are doing? Is life short? What if they lost their health, or worse, their lives or loved ones tomorrow? Nothing forces self-reflection like a health crisis or an impending one and throw that crisis into the mix for going on year three, and it’s gonna cause some navel gazing. A career change is a good thing. Wanting to start one’s business is, too. Find a way to help people make a soft landing and leave as a friend of the fold. Give people a good reason to come to work. Purpose, passion, making a difference all matter, and make sure they understand how your organization makes the world a better place. This is A LOT easier in an information services business where so much of what we do improves the planet. Do good and make it known.
- And bonus round! This is one I’m passionate about: Give employees with young kids a break. It’s unfair to expect them to come to an office or risk getting sick during a commute if they have unvaccinated kids at home. With nursery schools shutting down left and right with breakouts or absent teachers, a lack of childcare is a real issue. Give them tokens for childcare, or give them a reprieve from full-time work temporarily… or, or, or. Work with them any way you can to relieve a very real burden. One young dad I know was freaking out because he was asked to give a speech at an all-hands for 500 people at a convention center/hotel. His 10-month-old is too young for vaccines, and that venue was the last place he wanted to be, but as a mid-level guy, he felt disempowered to be “the one” who spoke up to say “I don’t want to go”….career-limiting, anyone? That perception is real, so make it unreal. We are leaders, and our job is to make those stressors go away as best we can. Make sure your team has the freedom and expectation that they will speak up about what they need. This company cancelled at the last minute and my friend was relieved, but should he have felt all that stress? No.
- Call a mid-year audible and shut the company down for a few days in July. Many of us did it between Christmas and New Year’s, and I’ve spoken to dozens of leaders who hadn’t realized how exhausted they were until they shut down and unplugged for the holidays. They acknowledged how it was for their teams, too, who were also bushed, and how great it was to have an entire week of no emails where everyone was out at once. We’ll try it on the 4th of July and give everyone July 1st, 4th, and maybe even 5th off. Maybe the whole week. I’m gonna give it a go, and I’ll let you know what days we pick, but I figure it’s not only a great way to end a year but a half! I’ll keep you posted.
- Fix compensation without having to be asked. If you have new people coming in at salaries that are through the roof, given the craziness that’s going on out there, then close the gaps with core staff without their having to ask. In fact, if inflation is 5–7%, people know how to compare their wage increases against their cost increases to see if they’re falling behind. Figure out how to help them before that happens. Might be you close a few open positions and allocate those dollars back to staff. Might be everyone gets a mid-year raise except poor performers. Might be incentive compensation of things like improving 401K match or job rotations that build skills or external training and skills development. Taking care of team members before they ask to be taken care of goes a long way. Our research says that people are leaving because of perceived dead-ending or for more compensation. Most of those reasons are within our reach to fix, and if they’re not, then it’s OK to say goodbye to talent and help them land as a friend of the fold. Sometimes it is just time to part ways, especially if someone wants to join the Peace Corps, become a doctor, or do something you can no longer offer.
There are all kinds of things leaders are doing, from reconfiguring space, to improving inclusivity, to setting up WeWork spaces, or closing the office for good. There’s no right or wrong, and some of these are just EQ. Do the right thing, win-win-win. Whatever the mantra, what are you doing these days? Email me to let me know, and I’ll keep sharing the collective wisdom we’re gathering.