The Great Resignation: Retain Your Talent With Professional Coaching

Where have all the workers gone? Job growth is strong. Unemployment is at its lowest level in decades. That has companies scrambling to find, hire and keep good people. Roles go unfilled. Those that are filled come with a high price tag. From a worker’s perspective, it’s a buyer’s market. From an employer’s perspective, it’s the Great Resignation. 

Quitting is at an all-time high

People are quitting in numbers not seen in at least 20 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Its definition of “quit” is people who leave their job voluntarily (not including those who retire or transfer to other locations). The bureau’s aptly named JOLTS report—that stands for Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey—puts the current quit rate at 3.0%.

That may not seem like much, but it’s statistically significant. The rate has only been higher two times in the last 70+ years (for short periods in the late 1960s and mid-1970s). That is the Great Resignation indeed. Industries that pay more tend to hold onto employees better, but all segments have seen their quit rates rise. In July 2022 alone, 4.2 million people quit their jobs, according to the most recent JOLTS data.

Why people quit

Why are people quitting now? It can be tempting to chalk it up to the pandemic, but fewer than a third of people surveyed by the Pew Research Center said that had anything to do with it. Most left because their pay was too low, they didn’t see any way to advance, or they felt disrespected at work. Next on the list were childcare issues, lack of flexible hours and poor benefits.

That rationale is echoed in the PwC Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey, which found that 20% of workers plan to quit in 2022 – nearly three-quarters of those workers cited pay as the reason, with workplace fulfillment also playing a big role. The Great Resignation is not all about burnout, but it is all about “get out.”

People may not cite the pandemic as the reason for their exit, but it opened their eyes to new possibilities. Many experienced the freedom and flexibility of remote work for the first time. They got to be exactly who they are all day long except during Zoom calls. They got to avoid the dreaded M&Ms — meetings and managers. And they got a lot of stuff done. Six out of 10 people said they were more productive working from home than they expected to be.

Why people stay

Today, people are looking for gratifying work in a place that allows them to be themselves. They want an employer who cares about their well-being. They want to be creative and innovative. If the money’s there but people aren’t happy, they’ll look elsewhere. Workplace fulfillment matters.

While compensation and workplace fulfillment top the list of reasons people switch jobs, at least half of employees are looking for more flexibility, reports PwC. Lucky for them, remote work isn’t going away. People work remotely an average of 2.4 days, and that number is stabilizing. Those in the information, finance and professional services work from home the most. Those in transportation, warehousing, hospitality, food service and retail do so the least because their work is done on site. You can’t drive a truck from your living room.

Fight the great resignation with professional coaching

Quitting and staying are two sides of the same coin. As we’ve seen, the reasons fall into three basic categories: compensation, workplace fulfillment and flexibility. The good news? Companies are taking note. More than half of the people who found a new job think it’s an improvement over their old one, according to the Pew Research survey. They’re earning more money. They have more opportunities for advancement. They have better work/life balance. Still, half doesn’t mean all. There’s plenty of room for improvement.

As companies adjust to the new normal, digital coaching can help them keep good people on the job. It’s one of the most effective tools for talent retention. It’s personalized. It’s scalable. It’s measurable. And it’s on the upswing. The number of managers and leaders who use coaching skills is up 46%, according to the 2020 ICF Global Coaching Study. Here’s a look at how digital coaching can help companies increase workplace fulfillment and build teams that perform well in flexible environments.

Digital coaching for workplace fulfillment

Companies that invest in wellbeing and mental health in the workplace create more fulfilling environments. Wellbeing coaching enables companies to create highly personalized talent retention plans that go beyond job skills to address people as people, not human capital. The coaching experts available via digital coaching help people improve their emotional health and reduce stress. They bring meaning and purpose to work. They provide a safe space for self-reflection, so employees gain confidence.

Employees can be paired with coaches who are experts in resilience, centeredness, personal growth and much more. Our own research shows that nine out of 10 employees who work with coaches feel an increased sense of purpose. Eight out of 10 see their stress levels go down substantially. That keeps burnout at bay.

Coaching managers to be sensitive to personal fulfillment and mental health in the workplace is important, too. Those who are adept at coaching for wellbeing have a huge impact on the business. Positive emotions lead to higher engagement and greater productivity. Companies with highly engaged workforces have four times higher growth in earnings per share. Those that promote mental health in the workplace have four times greater profits. And organizations that focus on employee wellbeing report 20% higher productivity and innovation.

Digital coaching for remote and hybrid environments

Moving to a hybrid or fully remote model is a significant culture change. Digital coaching provides a long-term, individualized approach to business transformation. Coaches help employees and leaders adapt to new ways of working. It helps them gain the soft skills that make it easier for them to connect with each other, work in teams and innovate, even from afar. In fact, our research shows that 85% of top managers who receive coaching are better at using soft skills than their peers are.

“Our entire company switched to a 100% teleworking model. This had a major impact on collaboration, particularly for managers. Loneliness, anxiety and remote team management directly affected some of our employees and managers,” noted Maude Rogers, global culture manager for Payfit, a CoachHub client. “We had to find solutions to help them. Individual support through coaching was the best solution to adapt to their individual needs.”

Explore our website to learn more about how digital coaching helps companies retain talent in the face of the Great Resignation.