Thanks to COVID-19 and all the repercussions of that pandemic, the workforce in the US may never be the same. One excellent example is what came to be known in 2021 as the “Great Resignation,” where millions of workers quit their jobs without having another one in the queue. This unprecedented event left thousands upon thousands of companies desperately needing to hire a workforce that simply wasn’t interested in taking those jobs. For the first time in many years, workers are standing up for themselves, insisting that they be given a fair wage, decent benefits, and the flexibility to achieve a work-life balance that they believe they missed out on prior to the COVID pandemic. And while this is no doubt empowering and positive for many employees in the workforce, it has left business owners and managers scrambling to create sign-on packages that are attractive enough to appeal to qualified workers. One benefit that is seen by much of the workforce to be an absolute must: the flexibility to work at home on either a full-time or part-time basis. In this article, we explore why this is so valued by employees, and how remote jobs and maintaining focus on what matters most to workers can save your company from the Great Resignation.

In an effort to identify exactly why so many employees were leaving their jobs, Beamery – a company focusing on implementing research and AI-driven solutions to assist companies in recruiting and hiring – surveyed 5,000 workers in the US and the United Kingdom. That survey found that the reasons behind the Great Resignation can be boiled down to four concerns on the part of employees:

• Lack of advancement opportunities – Survey respondents overwhelmingly agreed that employers should assist them in their career growth, and that if they failed to do, the employees would have no hesitation about looking elsewhere for those opportunities.
  
  • What management can do: Establish clear career paths for your employees. Assure them that you will support their advancement by providing training and promotion opportunities.
• Company loyalty may be a thing of the past – Over half of the workers who were pleased with how their companies adapted to the limitations brought about by COVID were still likely to consider leaving their jobs within the next 12 months.
  
  • What management can do: Be sure to communicate with your employees on a regular basis, whether they’re working on-site or at home. Ask them how you can further support their efforts, and follow up on reasonable requests.
• Work-life balance is essential – Because of their ability to work from home, over a third of those surveyed believed that they enjoyed a healthier work-life balance in the midst of the pandemic, and over 40% wanted that flexibility to continue whether or not COVID remained an issue.
  
  • What management can do: Allow your employees to work from home. Whether it’s on a full-time basis or some hybrid model, it’s obvious that remote work affords people the opportunity to better care for themselves and their family, as well as keeping up with their job responsibilities.
• Mental health must be a priority – Almost a third of those who responded to the survey expressed a desire for additional mental health support from their employers, but only 24% believed that their employers felt the same way.
  
  • What management can do: Consider establishing an EAP (employee assistance program) to provide direct access to mental health professionals. These services should be available to employees on a confidential basis and free-of-charge.

It’s essential for employers to take these concerns seriously in order to recruit, hire and retain a competent staff. And when it comes to allowing your employees to work from home, MySammy is an essential part of your management toolkit. We’re dedicated to helping you supervise and support your work-from-home employees in the most transparent way possible. That’s what our cloud-based software was designed for. MySammy allows you to measure the productivity levels of your remote workers with their full knowledge, providing valuable employee performance information in easy-to-read charts and graphs. Allowing your employees to maintain their remote jobs may just be the key to saving your company from the Great Resignation, and MySammy is the key to effectively managing those workers on a daily basis. Sign up for your FREE trial today!