69 Mil Employees Flee Deadly Culture Fits In the ‘Great Resignation’

Another Article in My Continuing Series on Disruption

69 million.  

The number of employees – Talent – who quit their jobs in 2021 according to consultant McKinsey. 

3 million. 

Talent leaving, says the Wall Street Journal, who say they plan to stay away from work “indefinitely.” 

4. 

The number of “very distinct company cultures”, noted popular technology author Geoffrey Moore said, that exist out in the workplace today.  

So, in the great race for Talent, Talent won. And they won big time. 

Now a couple points I want to discuss further included below. 

First, it’s a well-known fact there are different “company cultures” out there. In fact in some cases, they’re virtually polar opposites. 

And as “the Great Resignation” continues, those opposing cultures continue to play an outsize role in the employee experience.  

And as we all know - that experience ain’t so hot these days! 

Among several well – known classic books on company culture was a text published several years ago by popular tech guru Geoffery Moore of “Crossing the Chasm” fame. 

In it he describes 4 wildly different “cultures”. One, for example, he terms “the Control culture” where action plans are formulated based on power and security and, no surprise, IBM-ers are smack in the middle of that quadrant. 

In the opposite corner Moore places “the Cultivation culture” one more based on the individual. Young companies like say a TikTok would fall into this category and, you better believe that no employee from there would ever darken the door of an IBM. I guarantee it!    

Second, culture “misfit” has caused part of “the Great Resignation” to some extent, as identified in the opening remarks of this article above. 

In 2021, research reports indicated that some 69 million employees resigned from their companies giving the trend the moniker: the Great Resignation. Further, that same research revealed that 2/3’s of those leaving employees say they left because of a feeling of poor employee engagement – probably due to the “culture” - or concern for their well-being.  

Relatedly, because of what they term “long social distancing”, another 3 million employees say they are staying away indefinitely. They most likely will never return to an office environment again. 

Finally, Employees are “in the driver’s seat” for the first time and get ready for a different looking workplace in 2022. 

Signing bonuses, special perks and more are becoming commonplace in companies today as companies scramble for new workers. And I predict will continue for some time. Surely there will be limits but, for now, not so much. 

And as I usually do about this time, I’ll offer a few Business Tips for these uncertain times. They’re included below. 

Business Tip # 1. Define Your Company’s Culture right now. Doesn’t matter what it is but make sure you know what your culture is – “how we all do things around here”. It’s critical for hiring and retaining employees. 

Tip #2. Squeeze “top performance” from that Culture! Teams that believe in the same things and embrace common values are hard to beat and highly productive. So, urge your employees on and support them deeply as they get the job done – it'll pay off in the long run! 

OK. Until the next time that we sit around the table to throw out ideas about how best to navigate the post – pandemic landscape, huh? 

Ciao,