By Mark C. Crowley 6 minute Read
It is rather staggering that nearly 69 million people quit their jobs in America last year—and the common assumption is that everyone who resigned found a new employer willing to give them a meaningful bump in pay. Aligned to this thinking, of course, companies could effectively end the Great Resignation, and stop the hemorrhaging, by beefing up their employee compensation and benefit plans. But if this really were the cure-all, shouldn’t we have seen a significant decline in turnover in recent months, rather than a record number of people packing up their boxes and heading elsewhere?
I recently asked Gallup’s longtime chief research scientist, Jim Harter, to apply his data to what’s occurring in our workplaces and to help us pin down the causes and remedies of what’s become business’s biggest problem.
The biggest problem
Spoiler alert: Pay and benefits clearly matter: 64% of job seekers say the desire to earn more money is an important driver of the job search. But we must look well beyond the easy answer to fully understand why so many people have grown so disheartened by their current work experiences.
“Pay is important, and it must be fair,” Harter says, “but two-thirds of the reasons people actually left jobs in 2021 were due to issues related to their engagement and their overall well-being.”
Gallup’s research shows that 42% of the reasons people are quitting are tied to how they feel about their bosses and organizational cultures. And low engagement is specifically experienced when workers conclude they aren’t growing, appreciated, or treated with care and respect. Another 21% boils down to well-being, employees’ feelings about their work-life balance, work schedules, and their ability to work remotely some of the time.
“The whole intersection of work and life is a major influence over why people are attracted to a new employer and choosing to leave another,” Harter says. “Something organizations need to become more mindful about is how work and personal life now blend, and the role employers must play in supporting the whole person, not just the worker.“
To that end, Gallup’s well-being survey asks people to grade themselves on a scale of 0 to 10 in five key areas of their lives: their career, social life, financial stability, physical health, and connection with others. Anyone giving themselves an average score of seven or above is deemed to be “thriving,” and those with an average sco
