Over 82 percent of employers with employees who completely work from home say they have seen an increase in resignations, according to a survey conducted by CIPHR.
This compares to 70 percent of those with some form of hybrid workforce and 54 percent of employees who never work from home. The latter – employers whose employees never work from home – are those most likely to report a reduction in the proportion of employees voluntarily resigning over the past year, according to the CIPHR survey.
Also, 73 percent of employers have experienced an increase in employees voluntarily resigning over the past year. That figure rose to 83 percent for larger employers (those with between 251 and 5,000 employees). This decreased to 55 percent for smaller employers (those with between 26 and 50 employees), says CIPHR survey.
“Now, as we come out of the pandemic, huge numbers of employees have been on the move,” says Chief People Office at CIPHR, Claire Williams.
Addressing the resignations
Working from home is no longer shown to be effective in stopping the ‘great resignation.’ Neither is hybrid working.
Williams highlights that whilst there is no one-size-fix all for ‘the great resignation’, “helping your employees feel valued and happy is a great place to start.”
Employees are in a prime position to be more selective in the role they want, and the sort of organisations they want to work for.
“Employers need to ensure they focus on communicating their organisation’s values, purpose, and culture to differentiate them from the pack, and that they engage and listen to their employees and act on their feedback, wherever possible, to mitigate increased turnover,” suggests Williams.
Working from home aids recruitment
Whilst working from home is not conducive to retention, it most certainly benefits recruitment.
Only 51 percent of employers whose staff mostly work from home say they have found it more challenging than usual to recruit over the past year.
In comparison, that figure rises to 71 percent for employers whose staff work onsite at a workplace 60 percent to 100 percent of the time.
Employers with staff working 100 percent remotely are also three times more likely to report having found it easier than usual to hire new employees over the past year, when compared to employers with staff working 100% onsite at their workplace (27 percent compared to 8 percent), says the survey conducted by CIPHR.
Whilst offering work from home has helped many employers with their recruitment, it has had far less of an impact on their staff retention.
To combat the great resignation, addressing workers’ concerns regarding working from home should be a top priority for employers.
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
