Great Resignation – Croixstone

Understanding America’s Labor Shortage

Here’s an eye-opening fact that truly captures that enormous hiring challenge facing USA employers of all sizes.

If every unemployed person in the country found a job, we would still have 5.3 million open jobs.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce published research in early February of 2022 that featured this fact along with other data that the Croixstone team found fascinating. The following data points truly help to shape the story of today’s labor market.

We have 11.3 million job openings in the USA – but only 6 million unemployed workers.
As of October 2021, the pandemic drove 3 million adults into early retirement.
The childcare industry lost 370,600 jobs between February and April 2020 – and is still recovering.
Women participating in the workforce is at its lowest rate since the 1970s.
Last year, more than 47 million workers quit their jobs.
A Gallup survey found that 91% of workers in the USA hope they can continue to work some of their hours from home.
3 in 10 workers surveyed by Gallup signaled they would seek now employment if they were recalled to the office.

Learn more about the U.S. Chamber research here.

The seismic disruption in the USA’s workforce mandates that organizations of all sizes reimagine their people strategies. Croixstone’s team of highly-experienced human capital professionals are here to ideate and bring new thinking to your HR organization. Reach out to us today and let’s kick-start a conversation.

The Power of the Stay Interview

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 4.4 million people quit their jobs in February 2022 – another near-record high. The Great Resignation continues to spotlight the people risks that today’s leaders face as valuable employees continue to submit their resignations in this exceptionally tight labor market.

Sure, there is value in conducting exit interviews to gather insights and data to understand the reasons why talented employees are leaving. But why wait for the resignation to take place?

A powerful, yet vastly underutilized tool to get ahead of the resignation email, is the “stay” interview. A recently published article by Harvard Business Review (HBR) argues that managers should spend just as much time understanding why employees choose to remain in their jobs as they expend learning why they are departing.

We like the practical and easy-to-implement advice that HBR shared to implement stay interviews. HBR recommends that you fold stay interviews into existing one-on-one meetings with your employees or minimally consider conducting them monthly. HBR further suggests that you ask the following four questions that address common retention issues:

What’s your frame of mind today?
Who do you feel connected to at work?
What barriers can I remove for you?
What new thing to you want to learn that will excite you and help you grow?

Read the HBR article here.

Most USA Workers are Open to Leaving

The Great Resignation is a powerful force to be reckoned with, and it shows no signs of easing up.

Case in point…Willis Towers Watson, the insurance broking and HR advisory firm, polled nearly 10,000 USA workers during December 2021 and January 2022 to gather insights for its Global Benefits Attitudes Survey.

The Croixstone team read the survey results last week, and the insights are truly stunning.

Most USA workers (53%) are open to leaving their employers.
44% of USA workers said they are actively looking for a new job and plan to seek new employment in the first quarter of 2022.
4.3 million Americans left their jobs in January 2022, and a whopping 48 million workers left their jobs in the calendar year 2021.
25% of workers feel stuck in their jobs and would leave if they could. The discontent is even higher as you move up the ladder, and it increases to 30% of managers and 55% of senior managers.

Learn more here.