By now, HR pros are well aware of the Great Resignation. Employees have been leaving in droves, in search of higher salaries and better opportunities.
But a new study suggests the grass isn’t always greener.
A survey conducted by Skynova found that 41% of employees who impulsively quit their jobs tried to get them back!
Skynova reported that 78% of those who tried to get their old jobs back were successful. This can be encouraging news for employers who are struggling to fill open positions. It’s also a statistic companies can use to try to get people to stay.
Why people rage quit
This type of leaving, dubbed as “rage quitting,” comes with a lot of different emotions.
Typically, employees are quitting without a backup plan because they’re fed up and at a breaking point. Here are the top reasons people rage quit, according to Skynova:
- Poor management (47%)
- Toxic boss (44%)
- Excessive work stress (40%)
- Toxic co-workers (39%)
- Culture of overworking (35%)
- Being underpaid (35%)
- Feeling underappreciated (32%)
- Lack of regard for employee mental health (30%)
- Poor work-life balance (28%), and
- Lacking investment in the work (24%).
More than half of those who rage quit expressed anger toward their employer, and 76% let their employer know what their issues were.
How employers can help
Just because many employees express regret and end up wanting to return to their job, doesn’t mean employers shouldn’t be concerned about rage quitting. It can cause major issues at the company, and come seemingly out of nowhere.
In fact, most people who rage quit didn’t give any kind of notice at all. Sixty-nine percent of rage quitters simply walked out of work, never to return. An additional 17% stopped showing up. Having employees resign is hard enough — having them walk out with no notice can be detrimental.
A lot of emotions are involved, and about 22% of managers end up blaming themselves. Over 40% would rehire an employee who walked out.
So what can employers do to try to prevent rage quitting? Here are some changes managers made after this happened at their work:
- Started checking in with employees more often (43%)
- Listened to employees more (40%)
- Tried to be more available for employees (35%)
- Communicated more honestly (35%)
- Asked for employee feedback (29%)
- Offered more solutions to specific employee issues (23%)
- Created more team bonding opportunities (22%)
- Scheduled more meetings with employees (21%), and
- Used a new employee review process (12%).
It’s worth noting that 21% of managers did nothing to try to prevent future rage quitting.