The Great Resignation

This picture is misleading. We are not, in fact, all running from our jobs.

By this point, almost all of us have heard of The Great Resignation, the mass exodus of employees from their jobs since Covid. What many of us may not be aware of is that this is primarily generational. Pew Research highlights that about one in five (19%) non-retired U.S. adults - including similar shares of men (18%) and women (20%) - say they left a job at some point in 2021. Adults younger than 30 are far more likely than older adults to have voluntarily left their job though: 37% of young adults, 17% of those ages 30 to 49, 9% of those ages 50 to 64, and 5% of those ages 65 and older.

Baby boomers (those born between 1946 and1964) are most loyal. Gen Xers (1965 to1980) behaved similarly until post-Covid when they moved jobs a bit more frequently than before.

Millennials (1981to1996) moved at an unprecedented pace post the pandemic and Gen Z (1997 to 2012) even more so both pre and post-Covid! The talent crisis this is causing throughout many organizations is indeed frightening. According to Fortune Magazine, if every unemployed person got a job today, there would still be 5.4 million jobs available.

I felt compelled to write this article to address the fear this is causing and focus on some important issues. Fortune Magazine recently published an article titled “LinkedIn CEO reveals the generational data behind the Great Reshuffle - and the Gen Z trend should frighten employers.” The article’s first sentence reads, “LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky has issued a word of warning to employers grappling with an intensifying battle for talent: “Motivate and inspire Gen Z, or risk being left behind.”

In a recent Monitask blog, author Maria Petit cites the reasons Millennials are leaving their jobs in record numbers. The reasons cited include: 1) burnout, 2) workplace culture, 3) lack of meaningful feedback, 4) zero opportunities to grow, and 5) rigid work schedule. Ms. Petit further cites old-school management: “In the past, the top-down management style was the norm. But, this isn’t the case anymore. Millennials want to work for managers who are more collaborative and transparent. Millennials have different expectations for their leaders. They want leaders who are approachable and who value open communication.”

Although I don’t disagree with Mr. Roslansky or Ms. Petit, it is important to highlight that great leadership has nothing to do with generational groups and is undoubtedly not about just figuring out ways to keep your people. A loyal workforce is vitally important to an organization’s success. The Program defines loyalty as doing our best from the day we agreed to join our team until the very last moment we choose for our participation on it to end. While we do so, the expectation is that we will hold our teammates accountable to do the same. That is my and our standard if you want to be a member of this team, and your responsibility is to meet and exceed it. Be a great teammate!

However, this is only part of the equation ensuring our organization’s success. Loyalty is a 2-way street. As the leader, I must also be loyal to our team. We define this as my meeting and exceeding the same standards I outlined for the team to achieve. I must be a great teammate too, and then I must also do my very best to ensure our team accomplishes the mission, and while doing so, always take care of this team. Taking care of our teammates is predicated upon my making every decision by considering what is in the team’s best interest first. I must be a great leader. That is my responsibility to our team. If we can’t be loyal for each other, not only do we risk high turnover, we ensure an unhappy, unfulfilled workplace and team regardless of the generation!?

Most of us concern ourselves with many things, but we control very few. The most successful leaders stay focused on that which they can control. There are countless reasons why someone may choose to leave a team, many of which a leader does not control, but are we focusing on those things that can be controlled to the best of our ability? Admittedly, most leaders diligently stay focused on accomplishing the mission be it financial or athletic championships, but a high turnover rate suggests we are not as focused on taking care of our people while doing so. As leaders, are we making every decision with the team’s best interest at heart? Are we doing everything we can to strengthen collaboration, morale and our organization’s culture? Corporate America talks a lot about keeping working moms in the workforce, and the importance of work-life balance, but are we making decisions to ensure both occur? We do so not because we are frightened about retention. Great leaders do these things because we want to be loyal for our teammates. The same teammates that we desire loyalty from.?

As a great leader, commit to being a great teammate first. Then challenge your team to do the same! Then commit to being the best leader that you can be. The best leaders want to be the absolute best they can be in that role because they have a passion for ensuring their team accomplishes the mission, and they desperately want to take care of them while doing so. If we don’t do this, we fail as a leader regardless of our generational retention rates.??

Two points for Mr. Roslansky: first, leaders do not motivate. By definition, motivation is an internal desire or drive. We can inspire, though, and I hope leaders are doing so: not for Gen Z or to win the battle for talent, but rather because it helps ensure our team accomplishes the mission and helps our teammates be the best versions of themselves (versions they may not have even thought possible). Great leaders can inspire great teammates.

For Ms. Petit and her audience, I have written about many of the issues she raises for the Great Resignation in The Program’s monthly Letters on Leadership. One that I have not addressed and would like to close with is in respect to her point that “Millennials want to work for managers who are more collaborative and transparent. Millennials have different expectations for their leaders. They want leaders who are approachable and who value open communication.” I agree. Millennials do want this. So, too, do Baby Boomers and those members of Generations X and Z. The issue, therefore, is not about who wants this; the issue is why, as a leader, you provide it. If?it is to “keep your people,” they are already lost. Always remember, loyalty is both the reason for and the outcome of a commitment to being great teammates and great leaders.?

Leadership is not about doing something for your people because you will get something in return. That is called Selfish. As I was taught early in my Marine Corps career, you can always fool “up the chain of command.” You will never fool the Marines, though. The people who work with you know if you have their best interest at heart or if you don’t. They know if you are more loyal to them than your financial well-being or career. And this has nothing to do with Gen Z, Millennials, or a Great Resignation. All it has to do with is excellent leadership. I challenge you to provide it.?

Attack!

Eric Kapitulik, The Program

Founder and CEO