In addition to the millions of workers leaving their jobs, one in three wants to jump.
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As we enter Mental Health Awareness Month in May, a record number of workers have left their employers, and they are doing so on their own terms, often for mental health reasons. More than 38 million workers will quit their jobs in 2021, resulting in a labor shortage that gives workers more leverage than ever before. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.4 million employees quit their jobs in February of this year alone. With the pandemic focused on the fragility of life, American workers were left unhappy and wondering, if this was really what they wanted to spend their lives on. And they are looking for new rules of engagement including higher salaries, better working-life conditions and more flexible work schedules.
New Rules of Interaction
A recent Flexjobs study found that employees are stuck in jobs they don’t want and that 30% of them want to quit. The survey of 2,202 workers gave the following five main reasons for saying, “Get this job and push it”:
- Toxic company culture (62%)
- Low salary (59%)
- Poor management (56%)
- lack of healthy boundaries in working life (49%)
- Remote work not allowed (43%)
Another study of 1,000 ConsumerAffairs employees reported the top five reasons why employees jumped were:
- Looking for a higher salary (47%)
- Looking for better benefits (42%),
- Insufficient increase (41%)
- Needs not met by salary (40%
- Payment inequality (39%)
“We are no longer in crazy times. We are in a new era, requiring new rules of engagement when attracting talent — especially when recruiters and employers are having a hard time filling roles, ”said Workable content strategy manager Keith MacKenzie. “Employers now have the responsibility to really strengthen their talent attraction game and relax the requirements for a role. It’s a great way to get there: find and take on those top prospects and develop them when you’re with them. ”
WDoes the Hat Make a Desirable Workplace?
The answer to what makes the workplace attractive often depends on who you ask as you can see from the surveys. But many factors play a key role: a caring boss, the care of high management, a relaxed and productive environment, financial benefits, job security, commitment to efficiency and open and honest communication. And you can add “opportunity for growth” to the list, according to a study in Blind. The anonymous professional network recently surveyed over 10,000 Blind users from December 9-31, 2019, which discovered remarkable insight into the link between employee happiness and growth. Nearly 68% of workers were satisfied with growth opportunities in their current job, and 51% of all employees claimed to be happy in their workplace.
According to Kyum Kim, Blind co-founder, “Overall, Blind found that employees who felt they had had significant growth were also the happiest and, as self-reported employee growth decreased, so did happiness. . Nearly 80% of employees who reported they had significant personal growth also reported that they were happy with their current role. ”The survey also identified the top 15 U.S. companies with the worst employees in order ranking: Netflix, Bloomberg, ServiceNow, Google, Tesla, PayPal, Pinterest, Facebook, Lyft, LinkIn, Spotify, T-Mobile, VMware, Indeed.com and Cisco.
8 Steps to Do Before Jumping on a Ship
You spend more time at your job — up to a third of your days according to some sources — than anywhere else in the world. And if you are miserable, it can cause severe damage to your mental and physical health. Of course, all work has shortcomings. But if you are a miserable worker most of the time, you are an unproductive worker most of the time. It will not benefit you or the company. So what do you do? You can’t delete your boss. You can’t take the company and reorganize it, but you can take some other actions.
- Make a reasonable decision. The worst step is to hastily bail from your current position without thinking. You don’t want to trade one problem for another. Make sure emotions don’t overwhelm your rational decision and take time to think things through before jumping in.
- Schedule a meeting with your boss. If your job is intolerable, use it as a talking point when you meet with your manager. Without complaining, discuss your concerns. Make sure your boss understands your perspective, the importance of your personal life and your expectations about job demands.
- Ask for a raise. Don’t be afraid to be direct to see if your employer will work with you. You’re in the driver’s seat, and many companies are looking to retain strong talent and are willing to negotiate higher salaries and better benefits.
- Request to work from home. Consider seeking long-distance or hybrid work if it will improve your work situation. A more flexible work environment gives you more time to focus on other projects and saves you money in terms of gas and wardrobe costs.
- Perform a stress audit. Exactly what about your job that you are not satisfied with? Is the boss from hell? Bored with tedious work? Not enough money? Long time? Heavy workload? Flexible schedules? Once you can sort out exactly what the factors are, decide if you can correct them. If not, it may be time to start exploring other options.
- Contact co-workers for support. If you feel your situation is unsustainable and unfair, contact colleagues to see if they are having a similar situation and ask how they are managing it. If co-workers are also at the end of their rope, consider establishing support group meetings to deal with intolerable work situations. If possible, include your employer as a resource, including him or her in meetings to find helpful solutions to stress-related problems.
- Prepare yourself financially. The ConsumerAffairs study found that 42% of those who quit their jobs in 2021 say they are financially ready. And 60% who left said they were ahead financially. The three financial preparations before quitting are allocating savings for monthly expenses, creating a monthly budget and reducing non -essential spending. The majority of job hoppers in the study said they enjoy higher job satisfaction, salary, work-life balance, benefits and career growth in their new positions.
- Consider leaving a toxic workplace. No one can tell you to quit your job without knowing the close details of your workplace. It may be worth consulting with HR to weigh the pros and cons. If you’re in a toxic work environment, it’s not worth sacrificing your mental health when other job openings prioritize your emotional and physical well -being. You are not weak or selfish if you deny yourself abuse. You are a normal person responding to an abnormal work situation.
The good news is that more companies are starting to realize that work stress is a major health and safety issue and that it is to their advantage to have healthy employees. Happy employees are productive employees. Large corporations are looking for unique ways to support employees and remove stress in work environments. Workers are great when management expresses praise and encouragement, is clear about workplace expectations and provides the tools employees need to feel valued, challenged and successful.
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