How Companies, and Managers, Can Retain Resigned Employees During a Pandemic

Resignation is something that happens in companies, with hundreds and even thousands of employees resigning every year. However, there is a unique phenomenon that shows a rapid increase in resignations during the pandemic. This phenomenon, known as The Great Resignation, was first coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of Management in Texas, who predicted that there would be a wave of employee resignations after the COVID pandemic ended, especially in the United States. There are 4.3 million employees voluntarily resigning per month--the highest number of resignations in the history of the American workforce. A Mercer survey of 30,000 people from 31 countries showed that 41 percent of employees themselves plan to quit their jobs by 2022.

In Indonesia itself, there are fewer employees who resign during the pandemic, so the number is not as massive as in the United States or European countries. However, this does not mean that companies can ignore a number of factors that encourage employees to resign during the pandemic.

Why Are Employees Resigning During a Pandemic?

There are a number of reasons that encourage employees to resign during the pandemic.

1. Evaluation of Life's Priorities

The work from home policy allows employees to have more time for themselves. When employees spend more time at home and less time on the road or at work, they have more opportunities to evaluate alternatives outside of their current job, which they might not have thought of because of busy work. Some employees are even considering taking “early retirement” from their workplace to focus on other things outside of work.

2. Boundary Boundary Between Home Life and Work

The blurring of boundaries between home and work life can result in employees experiencing longer working hours, and difficulty in balancing roles at work and at home. Employees have difficulty concentrating on completing work, or they feel the demands of a higher workload, which can lead to burnout at work. This can encourage employees to look for alternative workplaces that can accommodate their work-life balance.

3. Changes in Interaction and Communication Patterns

Whether working from home or working in a hybrid way, the pandemic has driven changes in interactions between employees, both among employees and between superiors and subordinates. If previously superiors could expect employees to always be on standby in the room and employees can talk to each other in the office, then, these interactions are replaced by short messages, emails, telephones, or Zoom calls. This can result in more frequent miscommunication, lower responsiveness, and, in some situations, distrust from superiors to subordinates and vice versa. Employees may feel that they are not understood or appreciated, or that they are too constrained by their superiors. On the other hand, communication limitations can also prevent employees who have difficulty in carrying out tasks from receiving adequate instructions or training. As a result, employees feel uncomfortable working and start thinking about resigning.

Things Managers Can Do to Retain Employees

As superiors who supervise employees, managers have an important role to ensure employees feel comfortable working in the company and make them think twice about resigning. Some things that companies and managers can do to retain employees during a pandemic

1. Give more freedom and appreciation in work

Providing more discretion can provide a strong signal from managers that they trust and value employees' work processes. Appreciating their strengths or achievements and providing input on development areas can also make employees feel that the company values ​​them as individuals and not just tools. Employees who feel that their boss and company value them tend to be more loyal to the company and are more likely to stay.

2. Build personal belonging as a team member

Managers can also offer or involve employees in group activities to make employees feel part of a team. When employees have personal belonging as team members, they will also feel comfortable to be able to contribute. Involving employees in social activities with other team members can also increase engagement with other employees, which will make them feel comfortable staying.

3. Identify employees' personal conditions and needs

Every employee has different personal conditions and needs, which means they also have different expectations of how they want to be treated. Empathic communication is something that can help managers know the conditions, needs, and aspirations of employees. In addition, knowing how to work, motivation, strengths, and areas of employee development will really help managers to be able to determine the right steps in treating employees. Employees who feel understood, understood, and accommodated in general will tend to feel appreciated and will ultimately be more likely to stay.

Knowing the personal characteristics of employees is the first step that will be very useful for managers in planning and determining how they can manage teams and retain employees. Therefore, early assessment of the potential, competence, and capabilities of employees can be important to be able to help take the right steps and strategies to ensure that the company can reduce the possibility of employees to resign.

Written by Herjuno Tisnoaji - Resident Assessor of prasmul-eli