THE U.S. is in the midst of one of the greatest workplace shakeups in recent memory—the Great Resignation, also known as the Big Quit. According to the Bureau of La-bor Statistics, more than 4,000,000 people left their jobs in September 2021. A Gallup analysis says nearly half of America’s workforce is at least thinking about changing jobs, even if they are not actively looking, and employers are scrambling to fill more than 10,000,000 open positions in the face of a record-high wave of resignations.
In a typical year, young employees are the most mobile. They tend to change jobs more frequently than those further along in their careers, but the last two years have been anything but typical. A study published in the Harvard Business Review notes that the Great Resignation actually is being led by mid-career workers. The number of Americans ages 30 to 45 who quit their jobs in 2021 rose more than 20%.
What is driving the shift? In 2020, COVID-19 upended every aspect of daily life, including the workplace. Workers faced protocols like masks, social distancing, and sanitation guidelines that seemed to change every day. Those who could work from home found themselves navigating un-charted waters in a remote environment.
Anxiety and burnout were widespread as people worried about their health and that of vulnerable loved ones. They feared economic instability, the impact of social distancing on children, and a host of other concerns. Many reported feelings of isolation and depression. Anxious workers expected employers to ease, or at least ad-dress, their struggles. Some employers rose to the occasion. Some did not.
As companies attempt to shift back to business as (somewhat) usual—the Omicron variant notwithstanding—employees are considering whether they want to go back to pre-COVID norms. With millions of jobs available, those who were disappointed in their employers’ COVID response are re-examining their priorities. They are questioning whether they truly felt valued and empowered by their employers.
Our Dale Carnegie and Associates study found more than 75% of innovative organizations are rethinking their approach to wages and benefits, although the most effective of these organizations realize salaries and benefits are just a reflection of the corporate culture as a whole. As one survey respondent put it, “Our short-term strategy is to review our benefits pack-age, but we want to increase employee engagement in the long term.”
“Corporate culture” is a phrase that is used widely and almost as widely misunderstood. Corporate culture is not amenities like free lunch on Fridays or a pinball machine in the break room. It also is not defined by compensation.
Strong corporate cultures are customer-focused and adapt readily to changes in the marketplace. They have clear strategy and goals that are understood throughout the organization, so workers feel like they are working toward something bigger than a pay check, and senior leaders earn the trust of employees by showing empathy and visibly demonstrating the company’s values.
Weak corporate cultures are more reactive. They lack strategy, making change management difficult. Their employees are disengaged as they work in an environment marked by distrust, negativity, and fear.
Visible artifacts like time-off policies and mission statements can be considered a reflection of corporate culture, but its re-al essence is found in the silent shared assumptions that drive employee decisions. These assumptions start at the top, often with a company’s founder. Employees un-consciously assimilate these unspoken norms and apply them to the way they do their jobs. Over time, this leads to a collective understanding of the “right” way to think, feel, and act in the organization.
Corporate culture determines how employees see their role, relate to customers and authority, solve problems, think about the business, and more.
The business world today is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Man-aging the pace of change requires organizations and their employees to be confident in their corporate culture and what it stands for.
Culture is being built constantly, regard-less of whether executives are taking the time to shape it. Culture development is not a one-time, check-the-box exercise. Much like a garden, if left untended it can run wild. Keeping the corporate culture healthy means regularly taking stock and nurturing the attitudes we want to grow.
After studying data gathered from more than 1,000 senior leaders around the world, Dale Carnegie found leaders whose organizations boast a strong culture, financial success, and high employee engagement have a different attitude than their peers. For starters, these leaders believe in corporate culture and understand the impact it has. While nearly all the leaders surveyed said culture was a priority, those “walking the talk” were 20% more likely to recognize its impact on employee engagement and near-ly 30% more likely to believe it impacts financial performance.
Today, many companies are wrestling with how to sustain their strong culture in the face of a changing employee experience. The pressures of the pandemic dove-tailed with widespread social movements. Emotions are running high all over the nation. Human resources departments are finding them-selves in the middle of debates from gun control to abortion to climate change. Even the pandemic is political. On one side, employers face pressure to protect workers’ health and safety. On the other, they face arguments that mask and vaccine mandates infringe on worker rights.
The rise of the digital workplace poses a challenge to fostering meaningful relationships. Many companies implemented work-from-home policies at the outset of the pandemic as a necessity to doing busi-ness. Nearly half of workers say they intend to continue working from home at least part of the time, and 62% of hiring managers say the workforce will continue to be at least partly remote for the foreseeable future. This desire for a hybrid workspace is creating a new organizational challenge: how do we keep our culture intact if people do not re-turn to the office?
Culture is built through shared experiences. The mutual assumptions that underpin a corporate culture are reinforced through casual workplace interactions. Conversations in the break room, chats in the hall after a meeting, birthday and retirement parties—culture is built in the office in 1,000 small ways that are difficult to replicate on a Zoom call.
Also, a company’s physical work-space and office rituals may be a re-flection of its corporate culture. Do wood paneling and leather chairs reflect a commitment to tradition? Are monthly birthday celebrations an expression of a family atmosphere? In-office workers pick up on these cultural nuances naturally. It may take some creativity to extend the experience to remote employees. Our research suggests employee engagement has these key drivers: an employee’s relationship with his or her immediate manager, trust in senior leadership, pride in the organization, work-life balance, and work environment.
When shaping culture in a re-mote or hybrid environment, it might be more valuable to focus on the emotions these drivers evoke. Our research shows employees are engaged when they feel confident, empowered, connected, and valued.
These feelings are difficult to nurture in a virtual world. Virtual meetings fall short of face-to-face interaction in a number of ways. Communication is hampered by a lack of body language. In the same room, people have an unconscious awareness of one another’s posture and micro-expressions. Research has shown this awareness plays a significant role in feelings of connection.
Feelings of empowerment reach a new level of importance when workers are physically isolated. For instance, PwC identified a greater need for remote employees to have tools and resources for collaboration, communication, coaching, and creativity. While most of the employees surveyed are happy with their employers’ resources, about one-quarter said tools and resources in these four areas are “not very” or “not at all” effective.
During the pandemic, there were myriad examples of what can be accomplished when workers feel confident and empowered. Drive-through COVID testing, creative replacements for personal protective equipment, and supporting multiple patients with a single ventilator all came about because workers were trusted to do what needed to be done to accomplish their goals.
The Great Resignation did not come out of nowhere. In a Dale Carnegie survey, people leaving their jobs described dissatisfaction that likely was building for a long time. Nearly half were afraid to bring up tough issues with their leaders, and fewer than one in four reported feeling strongly valued by their organization. Gallup’s “State of the Global Workplace 2021 Report” has similar findings, maintaining that only 20% of global employees are actively engaged. To retain good workers and to recruit new ones, companies have to give employees what they want. While “more money” is the easy answer, the truth is more complicated. In a survey of 2,000 American workers, more than half said they would rather take a pay cut for a job they love than double their salary at a job they hate. Salary alone is not enough to create an engaged workforce.
That is why it is important to know what workers want. Opportu-nities to learn are high on the list. Nearly half of workers would con-sider switching jobs if it meant more opportunities for training and development. Also, workers want to be respected for their opinions and em-powered to make decisions. They want leaders who will welcome them to the table, validate their ef-forts, and listen to what they have to say; the freedom to learn from their mistakes; and to be included in their employer’s strategic vision for the future.
Corporate culture shapes the day-to-day experiences that yield true satisfaction or discontent. Building a strong corporate culture pays dividends far beyond recruitment and retention. It supports every part of a successful organization. Positive employee engagement results in greater innovation, which is crucial to succeeding in a competitive market. Sometimes the best ideas come from people on the frontlines. If those people do not trust management, their ideas will wither on the vine.
Engaged employees also are more productive and deliver higher quality work, creating a substantial impact on the bottom line. A land-mark study by James Heskett, pro-fessor emeritus at Harvard Business School, suggests as much as half the difference in operating profit between competing organizations can be attributed to effective culture.
Societal pressures, such as inflation, social status, political turmoil, and the rapid pace of change, plus remote work and a shift in cultural expecta-tions of work, all have put pressure on corporate culture. Some aspects of the employee experience may have changed permanently, but that does not mean the experience as a whole should be allowed to deteriorate.
Leaders can continue to build their corporate culture by assessing how employees feel about recent changes; prioritizing practices that make all employees feel valued, confident, empowered, and connected; ensuring employees feel a strong tie to the larger organization; assertively communicating a shared sense of purpose; and making sure actions and decisions are aligned with the values your company holds.
Joe Hart is the president and CEO of Dale Carnegie and Associates, New York.
