If you were hoping staffing issues will disappear with the new year, you’re going to be disappointed.
According to a new study done by GoodFirms, retention issues are likely going to continue into 2022 as The Great Resignation rages on.
This is because the pandemic has many people reexamining their priorities. Things like recognition, flexibility and a healthy work/life balance are more important to employees than ever before.
Why people are leaving
According to GoodFirms, 22% of employees are planning to leave their current jobs, and nearly 30% are considering it.
So what specifically is driving employees to quit? Here are the top reasons that GoodFirms’ survey found.
- Employees want flexible work options (70%). This ranges from full-time remote work to the ability to work nontraditional hours. Many employees can’t fathom doing the old nine-to-five in an office five days a week.
- Employees are worried about contracting COVID-19 (38%). Thanks to the highly contagious Omicron variant, people are more afraid of getting COVID-19 at work than ever before. If employers continue to push people back into the office, they may lose them.
- Employees want to stay home (34%). Some people didn’t like mixing work and home, but a good portion do — and they want to keep it that way. Some of the main reasons employees like remote work include no commute time, fewer expenses, easier to deal with sickness or chronic illnesses and the ability to do chores or side jobs.
- Employees feel stressed and burned out (31%). Workers are stressed out, and a big part of that is because many companies didn’t adjust policies or expectations throughout the pandemic, so employees tried to work just as hard as before, despite being consistently stressed and worried. Within this group of people, 23% feel depressed and 16% say they are overwhelmed by their workloads.
- Employees think they can find better job opportunities out there (17%). A lot of people are reevaluating their career goals and what kind of company they want to work for. A few reasons for this include employees learning new skills during the pandemic and workers wanting to be better compensated for their work. Additionally, 21% of employees aren’t pleased with their current company’s career development opportunities.