The “Great Resignation” has only accelerated the importance of the employee experience, which was highlighted by the pandemic.
As millions of unsatisfied and burned out professionals leave their professions to pursue purpose and passion, a key question arises – when did work become the polar opposite of that?
The workforce no longer accepts prepandemic workplace antiques and employees are demanding more freedom and autonomy in how they spend their time and where they work. They’re requesting a hand on the steering wheel, ushering in a new era of work defined by employees’ capacity to do their best work from anywhere.
What the Great Resignation teaches us about employee experience
With 4.4 million people quitting their jobs in September of last year alone, the “Great Resignation” saw overworked and unhappy employees leave their current positions. Because of a new desire for flexibility, there are now more jobs than individuals.
This movement is gaining ground in the Middle East as well. According to Hays, more than half of employees in the UAE (56 percent) expect to shift to a new job with a new employer in the next 12 months. According to Bloomberg, nearly 39 percent of workers would leave their job if it did not provide them with the flexible work they currently require, and this figure rises to 49 percent for millennials and GenZ employees. Those who are compelled to return to workplaces or who do not find it valuable or inspiring can quickly locate a better work environment elsewhere.
Employees desire to adapt their working style and schedule to meet their demands, whether to support their children, adjust operations for regions they support, or even spend more time with long-distance loved ones. Therefore, asynchronous work is becoming more common in every industry and across the globe.
Research in the UAE revealed that 64 percent of employees consider the ability to work from anywhere, office or home, as a driver of satisfaction and happiness. Flexibility in where, when, and how people work is fundamental for creating a desirable organisation. And as a result, leaders should adjust their management approach. Because in-office supervision is becoming less common, managers must emphasise how employees achieve results and contribute.
Moreover, leaders must also remember to trust their workforce. Businesses that make trust a priority will attract and keep the best employees, while those that do not may face a few more resignations.
Understanding Flexibility
When we tear away the four walls of an office, what are the actual building blocks that make a thriving working environment?
Positive employee sentiment is one guiding pillar. Employees should work in places and ways that make them happy, safe, and successful in servicing customers and growing a firm. Work is no longer characterised as a place in the age of flexibility – it is a space with processes and technology adapted to employee demands.
This technology can’t just be any solution; employees need to find it engaging and flexible. Employers must ask themselves, “What technologies do employees use the most?” What do they feel at ease with? What is required for them to achieve their ideal working environment? People want to be productive, and it is on to leaders to create tools that allow for efficiency – another requirement for retaining top talent.
Remote work has increased our collective technological literacy. Employees are aware of what they wish to use. Therefore, leaders should pay attention to what their employees advocate for and believe is required for their job function. However, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution — ideas that work in finance may not always work in sales, for example.
Defining Success in the New Age of Flexibility
The era of flexibility requires that leaders be agile, particularly in terms of how they measure success.
Client satisfaction has always been a priority for every company in every industry since it helps influence business decisions and generates a constructive feedback loop.
The same approach may (and should) be extended to employees, as employee satisfaction must be given equal weight when determining success. While monitoring tools are helpful for measuring productivity and efficiency across a distributed workforce, sentiment-based metrics may provide management with a more detailed picture of performance and preferences.
Employers should open a dialogue to understand what your employees need from this next phase of work, whether through regular surveys, management one-on-ones, skip levels across functions, or town hall gatherings.
However, leaders must accept the possibility that they will not get it right the first time. The period of flexibility is so named because everyone, including leaders, is free to adjust plans to meet changing requirements preferences and learn new things along the way.
Ultimately, enterprises should get familiar with the idea of redefining success as they go, with employee happiness serving as the defining criteria for decision-making.
