Employees are quitting companies they perceive as wavering on the promise of the employer value proposition (EVP)

In 2019, the average rate of unemployed population to job openings was 0.80% (more than one job per every unemployed person in the US). During this time, the quit rate was 2.3%. There was an abundance of opportunity in the job market for candidates aspiring to take the next step in their careers. Employers, looking to attract job hoppers, leaned into messaging that communicated dynamic, challenging work and company innovation. 

After seeing a sharp decline in the height of the pandemic, the rate of employees quitting their jobs is back up above pre-pandemic levels, but for vastly different reasons. In April, the share of US jobs leavers was 2.7%, up from 1.6% YoY, and the highest level since 2000.

Much of the focus has been on hourly-waged workers with pay, more challenging work conditions (belligerent customers and additional COVID-19 precautions) and health and family concerns leading to higher turnover (April quit rate at 4.3%). However, employers who are signaling a return-to-work policy that looks more akin to the pre-pandemic situation are finding that a percentage of their workforce is more willing to quit than give up the flexibility of remote work. 

A May survey of 1,000 US adults showed that 39% would consider quitting if their employers weren’t flexible about remote work. The generational difference is clear: Among millennials and Gen Z, that figure was 49%.

This may present an opportunity for employers with more flexible remote work policies and stricter COVID-19 in-office protocols to refocus their recruitment marketing, developing a full content strategy focused on their points of differentiations to attract the coming segment of job hoppers.    

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-01/return-to-office-employees-are-quitting-instead-of-giving-up-work-from-home [Bloomberg]

This year’s double pandemic – a term coined to express the socio-cultural impact of COVID-19 and fight for racial justice – is shaping up to have a similar impact on the US workforce. 

The increased conversation in the workplace about diversity, equity and inclusion has led to more rigorous practices and programs, and open dialogue that can be challenging – as any change management professional can attest, organizational shifts rarely happen without some level of discomfort. 

As highlighted in last months’ edition of the Scoop, Coinbase and Basecamp made the decision to lean away rather than embrace practices aimed at improving inclusion and belonging in their workforce. In both cases, there was a company memo sent out under the guise of “new corporate culture policies” that amounted to getting back to the business at hand which resulted in a percentage of their workforce quitting at both companies. 

This time, the memo is from Mediums’ leadership, and while it contains a more veiled recalibration of the status quo, the result remains the same.  

The month of the memo, churn tripled at the company compared to the month prior and was 30 times higher than the January metric, using an internal data set obtained by TechCrunch.

The heart of the issue at Medium, similar to Basecamp, is employees advocating for more accountability from their employer in matters that go against the purported values and culture of the organization.

Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/03/medium-exodus-culture-memo/ [TechCrunch]

The rubber may be meeting the road for employers. In this moment of labor shortages and high turnover, employees are demanding that employers actually hold true to the promise of the Employer Value Proposition (EVP) or they might walk.