The Great Resignation - A Great Time for Workplace Culture Re-imagination

At one point in my career, when I was the Executive Director of a YMCA membership branch (aka “gym”) I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly also responsible for a summer camp and I want to share one of the biggest lessons I learned through this transition.

At the membership branch we had about 100 part-time employees, many at minimum wage. We had a lot of great staff, and a lot of turnover. At camp, though, staff were paid about $250/week – $6.50/hour for a 40 hour work week, though their workdays were close to 24 hours a day, 6 days a week for for 5-7 weeks. The work was hard - homesick campers, homesick staff, very long hot summer days. Nonetheless, hiring was competitive and staff clamored to return summer after summer. Clearly pay was not the draw and it got me thinking about what we could learn from camp that we could apply to the membership branch.

There was a very strong culture at camp. It was fun but it went deeper than that. There was a commitment to creating an impactful experience for campers, and whether intentional or not, the experience had an often life-changing impact on staff. There were lots of opportunities for fun and no one took themselves too seriously. We were clear about why we were there. It was OK to laugh and it was OK to cry. The leadership team was "in it" with the staff - helping lead activities, dealing with campers having a tough time adjusting to rules, laughing along with staff, being the shoulder staff could cry on, dealing with backed up sewage...and so much more. There was a feeling at camp that made all the hard work worth it and I wanted to bring that feeling to the membership branch.

You may be wondering what this has to do with “The Great Resignation” of 2021. While many folks tend to attribute the fact that employees are quitting their jobs in record numbers to pay, I don’t think that’s really the answer. Yes, employees have begun to assert their need to be paid a fair and livable wage, but that movement was underway before the pandemic. I believe it has significantly more to do with workplace culture, and the folks at MIT Sloan Management Review agree. Their recent article on toxic corporate culture explored the impact of a variety of factors on attrition relative to compensation and here is one of the most telling things they found.

A toxic corporate culture is far and away the strongest predictor of attrition, with culture being 10 times more important than pay.

Most of what I’ve seen recently in terms of recruitment, though, is focused on pay and hiring bonuses, not culture. So, while you may recruit someone with a great sign-on bonus, if they don’t find the culture they are looking for – if it just doesn’t ‘feel’ right - they will just head off to the next sign-on bonus they find.

Workplace culture is about how it really FEELS to be at work - what is valued, what the unwritten rules are, how are employees treated. Merriam-Webster defines culture, with regard to the workplace, as “a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization (such as a business)”. Exists. That’s the thing with workplace culture. Whether you pay attention to it or not, it exists. And if you’re not paying attention to it, it will develop on its own and may or may not be the culture you want to create.

For many people, the pandemic pushed the pause button on their fast-paced lives and created a moment to evaluate what was important to them. It may have also caused people to learn to live while out of work or shown them benefits of spending more time at home. Going back to that bumper-to-bumper hours-long commute, or the grind of the pre-pandemic pace may suddenly seem less appealing, regardless of the size of the paycheck. Many employees’ priorities have changed or been better defined, and if businesses don’t change with them, they will be hard pressed to fill positions and keep operating.

This "great resignation", though, presents an exciting opportunity. There is a larger and more talented candidate pool now looking for the right next step. These candidates will be looking for places that fit with their new expectations, so it is imperative for organizations to evaluate their workplace culture and perhaps even re-imagine what it can be in this new normal.

Shifting culture is no easy task. It often means the most senior leaders have to create new habits, and creating new habits is not easy - especially for people who have been operating a certain way successfully for many years. It takes real commitment. I’ve studied the workplace cultures of some of the best companies to work for over the years. Based on that, my own experience and the current climate, I’ve put together a list of ideas to consider if this is something on which you really want to focus:

Explore flexible work schedules

• Flexibility can reduce commute time and allow employees to be more present for the important events and people in their lives.

Allow some level of work from home

• Where once we said it wasn't possible, the pandemic taught us differently. If we don’t have to come back to the office, why should we require it?

• It sends an important and valuable message - “I trust you”. (see below about clear expectations)

• Yes, there is value in having a team together in person, and some folks don't do as well working from home, so perhaps it’s a combination of some days at home and some at the office. The point is to consider what is possible.

Allow for a casual atmosphere

• What can we learn about the opportunity working from home taught us about the value of being comfortable? Do we need to in suits and dresses? If you need to require a stricter dress code or perhaps uniforms, is there some other way you can allow for some casual opportunities and/or ways for employees to express their style to some degree?

• Casual also refers to the tone. As we worked from home we became immediately accustomed to seeing people’s cats walk by the video camera, hearing dogs barking, or seeing kids being silly in the background. Perhaps we learned a little bit more about each other and got a little more comfortable. How can we bring that level of comfort into the workplace?

Lead in a way that supports your stated culture

• Actions speak louder than words. What are some areas where our leadership contradicts the culture we think we are creating?

  • Are we telling employees that they don’t need to check email outside the workday hours and then sending them emails outside the workday hours. “If the boss is working outside workday hours, then maybe I should be too." If you must write emails outside the workday hours, just keep them in your drafts folder and press send at the start of the next work day. It will take some getting used to, and maybe post-it notes to remind yourself – like I said we’re learning new habits - but you can do it!

  • If we have a principle of “see it, own it” - meaning if there’s a problem, trash on the ground, something broken, an unhappy customer, etc. the first person who notices needs to address it - that needs to apply to us as well.

• We must prioritize employees. This means we respond quickly, arrive for meetings on time, end meetings on time, listen and respond to their needs and requests, follow through on commitments, set reasonable deadlines, etc. When we don't do these things, we send the message that they are not as important. It’s our responsibility to plan better to prevent these occurrences (new habits!). And if you’re thinking “but I always call or text to let them know I’m running behind”, that’s still not enough. They have planned accordingly to be on time and we need to show them the same respect.

Create opportunities for fellowship & fun during the work day, and participate yourself

• A healthy culture allows for, and creates, time to enjoy time together. This can include organized activities or informally just in the tone we set.

• Actions speak loudly here too. If we’re going with a more informal approach, that means we lead by example. That could mean we spend time in the breakroom catching up with folks, stopping by and having a seat by someone’s desk to ask about their weekend, or sharing some of the things we do for fun. In the beginning, we might need to calendar this to make sure we remember.

• Get creative and think outside the box. I’ll share some examples from the membership branch in my next post.

Trust, transparency and vulnerability.

• As important as it is for employees to know we trust them, they’ve got to trust us as well. Many of the items above in terms of prioritizing them and following through on commitments builds trust.

• We also build trust through transparency and vulnerability. Share the “why” when we are shifting policies or strategies or when have to say no. Share and acknowledge our mistakes, and apologize if they impact the team or the business negatively. Being honest about mistakes let’s employees know it’s OK to make them too, and models taking responsibility.

Give Them Ownership

• If we hire someone for a job, let them do the job. When we micro-manage it undermines the message we're trying send regarding trust. Give them ownership and let them run with it. Let them know we’re there if they have questions and check in from time to time to see how it’s going, but let them use the skills and talents we hired them for.

• For more on this important topic, check out this great article about how to stop micromanaging from Harvard Business School online.

Be Clear About Expectations and Hold People Accountable

• Especially as we look to create a more open, flexible and trusting workplace culture, it is important that employees are clear on the expectations, rules and consequences for their position.

• One of my favorite phrases about working with kids is “Kids will test you. It’s your job to pass.” The same holds true for workplace policies. Some employees are going to test whether or not our policies are really enforced and if we don’t hold them accountable, they will continue to violate them. Not only does this potentially negatively impact our operation, it sends a demoralizing message to the employees who are conscientious and doing things the way they are supposed to. Which leads me to one of my biggest pet peeves:

• Deal with problematic individuals individually! With any policy or rule, in the workplace and beyond, there will be a very small percentage of people who will violate it. What I often see in the workplace is that we’ll address something in a staff meeting of 50 people that only applies to 2 of them. Or, we may remove a policy or practice rather than simply addressing the specific individuals in violation. Worse yet, we may take away an opportunity most employees were enjoying because a small group took advantage. This is all very demoralizing for our best employees.

• If we’ve been thoughtful about our policies and expectations and we “pass the test” when they are violated, the team knows the culture in our workplace is that our policies and expectations are necessary and will be respectfully enforced, which will result in fewer instances of policy violations and higher employee morale overall.

• Lastly, it is important that senior leaders evaluate our policies critically to make sure they are all actually necessary. If there is a policy we aren't holding people accountable to, perhaps it doesn't need to be a policy. In that case, simply remove it.

I was recently discussing culture shift with a colleague who has experienced some turnover in the past 6 months. They understood work may need to be done but were concerned that the folks at the top weren't ready. And that is the critical first step. So, if you're the folks at the top, this message is for you more than anyone else.

There has never been a louder message about what the workforce wants and expects. I've seen it in the camp world - camp directors lamenting about how "back when I was a counselor we worked this hard for less pay and never complained". I've even seen it on the TV show Grey's Anatomy where Meredith, a surgeon, and Dr. Bailey (Chief of Surgery, past leader of the intern program) were having a similar conversation about how this generation of interns are just too needy, not willing to work so hard, etc. Meredith responded "You know, maybe it was never OK to ask them to work that hard to begin with". There it is. That's the shift in mindset successful businesses and organizations are going to need to thrive in this new normal. Yes, maybe we all did work that much harder for that much less, although time has a funny way of altering memory. Even is that is the truth, maybe we shouldn't have had to. This workforce is saying, loudly, they want something different. Are you listening?

I've gone on long enough here, so I'll share examples of what we did at the membership branch in my next post. Like I said, though, it can be really hard for senior leaders to shift how they are doing things or even to evaluate the current culture. That’s where I come in! (Yep, my moment of shameless self-promotion). This is some of my favorite work to do and if I can be of assistance in evaluating your culture or helping you make a shift, and you're really ready to do the work, I’d love to explore options with you. Either way, I hope you'll spend some time thinking on this and trying some new things to create an even stronger workplace culture for your team.