47 million Americans quit their jobs voluntarily last year, according to a CNN report. Not only did a record number of Americans quit, but there were also record job openings hindering businesses’ ability to continue to grow and thrive. This phenomenon has been named the “Great Resignation” and no industry is immune. What does UCaaS and the “Great Resignation” have to do with each other?
But why are employees leaving in droves? According to a survey by Indeed of over 1,000 people that “voluntarily resigned from at least 2 jobs since March of 2020”, they quit because “the pandemic made them feel like life is too short to stay in a job they weren’t passionate about.”
Not only are workers quitting jobs but they are also changing careers and industries. The same Indeed survey found that 85% of job seekers were looking for a position outside their current industry, with 97% of those seeking to change industries doing so as a result of the pandemic.
Scott Bonneau, the vice president of global talent attraction at Indeed, told Insider Magazine “While COVID created uncertainty for many, it created opportunities for employees to change to industries where remote work, flexibility, and higher pay are more prevalent and enabled them to pursue professional passions.” This opportunity has given the power to the employee to negotiate aspects of their role, especially in the areas of flexible work schedules, remote work, and hybrid work.
Turn “I quit” into “I’ll stay”
Moving forward, we can expect to continue to see a high level of resignations across the board during 2022, meaning that your ability to create an inviting, and inclusive workplace that involves both remote and in-person options, is going to be critical to keeping your most vital resource working for you.
Why are employees leaving? Job search platform, Joblist, surveyed 26,000 individuals on their platform and asked them if they have, or were planning, to leave their current employer and why. The results showed that 22% had already quit and 73% were planning to do so. As to why the survey cited the top reasons employees were leaving were:
- They were unhappy about how they were treated during the pandemic
- Low pay or lack of benefits
- Lack of work-life balance
Other statistics from Gartner found that only 15% of employees actually want to work full-time in an office environment, and an organization that chooses to go back to a full on-site work arrangement would risk losing up to 39% of its current workforce. The research director for IDC Future of Work practice, Amy Loomis, told Computerworld that “Overall, I think the degree to which workplace flexibility sticks will be based on two key factors: the first is the digital maturity of an organization to maintain hybrid ways of working over time and at scale (not just remote or on-site), and secondly, the degree to which the industry and [an] individual institution has an appetite to adopt this approach culturally,”
3 Ways UCaaS Can Help the “Great Resignation”
The benefits of UCaaS are wide-ranging, but for the purpose of this article, we will focus on one piece of the technology. That is the ability to provide flexible work locations while still maintaining the corporate image and brand. Here’s how:
Mobile applications – mobile applications can be downloaded on the mobile device of your choice, either Android or iOS. The mobile application turns your mobile device into a fully functioning endpoint on your PBX, enabling employees to receive and make calls from their work line, transfer callers to another extension and even chat internally with coworkers.
Video collaboration – Did you know that 87% of remote employees say they feel more connected with the team when using video conferencing? (Forbes) And over half (55%) of businesses attribute an increase in employee engagement to video conferencing. (Lifesize) Video collaboration helps disparate teams feel like they are in the same room and more connected fostering that sense of teamwork and increasing employee engagement. And employee engagement is a key factor in helping businesses retain the talent they have worked so hard to procure.
Group chat – while there are external solutions that would provide the same service, having your employees all chat through a solution built into your PBX only further enhances the security of your private business data. Employees can chat internally through their mobile device or laptop and participate in the chat regardless of their location, and even while on the move. And data will seamlessly follow the user regardless of which device they are on. Start on your mobile phone, pick it back up on your desktop then take it on the go again on your tablet. The possibilities are endless.
How does UCaaS Reduce the “Great Resignation”
You may be thinking, “Well this is all and good but what does this have to do with employee retention?” The line can be drawn between the flexibility that is inherent in enabling your employees to be able to work where they work best and giving them the ability to have a better work/life balance. And as a work/life balance mismatch is one of the top factors driving employees to put in their resignation, it seems safe to say that providing them with a collaboration solution that enables them to do more out of the office can be a key benefit to keeping them working for you.
Have any more questions about how UCaaS can help you reduce your risk to become a statistic in the “Great Resignation?” Contact us today to learn more.
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