WHAT THE GREAT RESIGNATION MEANS FOR L&D

As many employees rethink work, organisations must rethink their learning and development offering.

The great resignation is indicative of a shift in people’s attitude to work. The pandemic slowed down the rate at which people changed jobs. Now we are seeing some of that pent up demand for change. But with employees spending more time at home they are rethinking their career, work-life balance, and long-term goals. This goes way beyond just a short-term reaction to the lockdown.

This employment shift in the UK was captured by a recent survey of 6,000 workers by the recruitment firm Randstad. It found that 69% felt confident about moving to a new role in the next few months. Also that 24% are planning a change within three to six months. Usually, this is around the 13% mark for the whole year.

This equates to 1 in 4 of UK staff planning to change job role in the coming months. Staff are looking for greater flexibility, a sense of purpose, more pay, perks and clear achievable development in their job roles. The great resignation is a huge amount of people thinking about switching jobs, and the disruption this can cause to business continuity. L&D must help reinforce a positive culture, employee experience & leadership practices.

People want to work for an organisation where they can learn and develop. Consequently, organisations need to provide quality learning supported by a successful learning strategy. In doing so, you will bring in the best talent and retain current staff. 

For your employees to engage with your learning it must be relevant, useful and authentic. It should represent a recognisable version of the environment in which they work and the specific challenges they face. Once a problem has been identified L&D teams must act quickly to roll out the learning and make it accessible across the organisation.

The great resignation will bring challenges going into 2022. The big question you need to be asking yourself is are your learners satisfied?

We recommend using great storytelling that delivers an emotional connection alongside captivating visual design. We use illustration, animation, and video to bring content to life.  

Living in a digital media rich world, people expect all content they consume to be to a certain standard. It needs to be digestible, intuitive and engaging. Plus present a great overall user experience. If this isn’t achieved, it can be difficult to attain the learner’s attention and with that retain knowledge.   

If you think your learning offering requires a design update, head straight over to our learning design hub. Here you will find loads of great tips from our learning designers. 

Are you investing in the growth of your employees, or does the business see L&D as a cost centre? It can be difficult for L&D to acquire the necessary budget they need to make changes. To get around this, we have shared how L&D can better represent itself in the boardroom. In summary, proving the value behind the learning. In this same blog post ‘a message to the board‘ there are links to several case studies that use data points to demonstrate a return on investment.  

A successful onboarding programme sets up your recruits ready for their job role. It’s also a chance to start building loyalty straight away. Onboarding projects should be seen as a great opportunity to build excitement around their first learning experience. Alongside setting expectations for future learning courses that will help them progress their careers. 

The great resignation suggests that organisations hiring teams will be busy. Digitalising onboarding training can provide huge value for the organisation and it’s learners. If you have concerns about onboarding new teams remotely then consider the options that digital learning can deliver in this article. 

Employees that we welcome for who they are, are well represented, and have a sense of belonging will naturally have greater loyalty to the employer. 

Diversity in the workplace is critical to any business and creating an inclusive environment requires work with each organisation having unique challenges. Digital learning is one strategy to reach dispersed workforces who cannot easily attend a classroom training session. If you are not sure that a sensitive topic can be delivered digitally, then please review this example of our unconscious bias training. We guarantee it will challenge your thinking.

Employees are seeking a greater sense of purpose in their work. Hence 36% of employees are more likely to be loyal to a company that is sustainability focused.  

To bring in the best talent and bypass the great resignation organisations should communicate their sustainability strategy. Seeing this as an opportunity for individuals to get involved and make a difference. Creating bespoke sustainability training will help harness a culture of purpose and help your employees connect with the values of your organisation. It can become a reason for new talent to join your organisation as well as retain staff – with everyone working towards a shared goal. Follow the link to find out more about delivering sustainability training.

Mental health is no longer a challenge to be faced alone, organisations are starting to realise it’s a collective priority. An important early step is to help employees identify if they or colleagues are showing signs of stress and anxiety and how to take positive action.  

Providing training in this space is an opportunity to show that you care. It’s a chance, to be honest, and kind whilst showing your company is here to listen. Training is not the only answer, for example, flexible working patterns can be a big factor in helping people manage their workload. But training is a great place to demonstrate new desired behaviours that will help build a culture that supports employee wellbeing. The pandemic has caused huge additional anxiety, which prompted us to look at how mental health training can help with the return to the office.  

In 2022, attracting new talent and building employee loyalty is going to be crucial. We hope we’ve shared a few useful ideas on how your approach to L&D can be part of the solution to the great resignation. Whilst helping to create an awesome place to work for everyone.

Finally, with a successful learning strategy supported by high-quality learning delivery, the great resignation may not affect your organisation. To speak to us further about what the great resignation means for L&D get in touch below. You can call on 0117 440 1000, email at hello@fenturi.com or fill in the contact form below.