Great Resignation Acceleration – 60% plan to leave job in 2022

HR leaders underestimate the struggles employees are facing as swathes leave their jobs.

Over half of employees (53%) said a company with an inspiring mission and purpose would convince them to move jobs 

San Francisco, December 13: 6am PST – A new survey reveals that the Great Resignation is set to continue into 2022, with a staggering 60% of employees planning to leave their jobs in the next 12 months. 

The report, carried out by employee experience app Workvivo, surveyed over 2,500 employees in the US and UK on the top causes of the mass exodus and how the employee experience has impacted this movement.

A clear gap has emerged between employees and organizations as a concurrent survey of 350 HR leaders run by Workvivo found that over 70% believe their company culture is strong. Meanwhile 80% of employees report feeling less connected to their company culture. Some 90% of HR leaders believe they appreciate and recognise employees for their work, while over one in three employees surveyed did not believe their employer truly values or appreciates their work.

The report uncovered that disconnect and a lack of recognition and appreciation are leading considerations for employees leaving their jobs. 

• 60% cite emotional disconnect from colleagues and culture since the onset of the pandemic as the biggest frustration at work
• 41% said employers could do better keeping them informed
• Over 60% of employees said a company that appreciates and recognises their work would help them stay longer 
• 57% said feeling “a sense of belonging” and part of a greater purpose would also make them stay longer
• Over half (53%) said a company with an inspiring mission and purpose would convince them to move jobs

Two in three said they would move jobs for a minor salary increase of 5 or 10%, illustrating the lack of a sense of loyalty and stickiness among employees today. Two in five people say they’re less happy in their jobs than last year, while one in three report a negative workplace culture and environment. Meanwhile, two in three HR leaders believe their workplace culture is better compared to last year.

Speaking on the significance of these results, Workvivo CEO John Goulding says: “The last year has been a particularly challenging one for leaders. After a tough transition to remote work almost overnight, organizations may have expected breathing room. Instead, they faced an even bigger challenge as employees left their jobs at historic levels.

“This data shows clearly that the trend is to continue. It’s time for leaders to consider their employee experience holistically and understand the factors that are pushing or pulling people to leave. It’s no longer enough to rely on tokenistic perks to attract and keep the best talent. This survey shows how crucial it is to foster an emotional connection and sense of belonging in people to retain them.”

The data comes after a landmark McKinsey report that predicted the continuation of The Great Resignation and uncovered the gap between employees and employers. The research found that “relational” factors like feeling valued and a sense of belonging were more important to employees than their employers expected. As the Great Resignation rages on, employers will need to assess the inadequacies in their own employee experience and determine why their staff are leaving in such numbers.

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Survey Method

Workvivo, the centralized internal communications platform surveyed over 2,500 employees who moved to remote working at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents were employed adults located in the USA and UK. The concurrent survey of HR leaders was run among 350 participants who hold management or leadership positions within the HR function of their companies.

About Workvivo

Workvivo is an employee experience app that increases employee engagement and serves as the central point for all internal communications in the workplace. Workvivo is backed by Zoom founder Eric Yuan and Tiger Global, and works with organizations globally across multiple industries, including many Fortune 500 companies with a user employee retention rate of 90%. We are an enterprise social network that consolidates the communications stack through a highly social experience, increasing collaboration, sense of community and belonging to the organization. The result is more effective employee communication, a highly engaged workforce and an efficient communications technology landscape. Check us out at www.workvivo.com.

Founder Bios

John Goulding is the CEO and co-founder of Workvivo. After working in HR tech for almost a decade he was compelled to tackle the problem of employee engagement after seeing the devastating impact it was having on companies. To this end, he set up Workvivo with co-founder Joe Lennon. John was formerly CEO of CoreHR, which he helped grow into what’s now one of the world’s leading providers of HR technology until they were acquired in 2016. Workvivo is backed by Zoom founder Eric Yuan and Tiger Global, and works with organizations globally across industries, including many Fortune 1000 companies.

Joe Lennon is the CTO and co-founder of Workvivo. He is the former CTO of CoreHR, Enterprise HR and Payroll application. Previously he was CTO of Vearsa, online publishing and Founder of Subwoofr. He is the author of two published books, HTML5 in action and Beginning CouchDB.

Contact

Eleanor O’Mahony – Communications and PR Manager – Workvivo

eleanor.omahony@workvivo.com