The Great Resignation is not slowing down, it’s increasing — especially for younger generations, according to research by Lattice.
More than half (56%) of Millennials and 69 percent of Gen Z reported they are actively looking for new roles.
UK employees (53%) were even more likely than US employees (45%) to report they were actively looking for a new role in the 6-12 months.
In the previous Lattice research, Great Reshuffle Data, 59 percent of employees said the pandemic made them more likely to quit. A few months later, over half the workforce is actively looking for something new.
What is the difference between younger and older workers?
Senior talent is most likely to be participating in the ‘Big Quit’, with 70 percent of employees who reported managing teams of managers reported they were actively looking for a new role.
However, younger working generations value more than money. Boomers were 13 percent more likely than Gen Z to rank compensation/salary as extremely important when evaluating their satisfaction in a current job.
Meanwhile, Gen Z was nearly 20 percent more likely to rank opportunities for career growth and advancement as extremely important compared to Boomers.
Gen Z and Millennials were also more likely to cite “lack of opportunities for career growth, mentorship, learning & development as a key reason they were considering leaving their current role.”
Of note, Gen Z was on average twice as likely than any other generation to consider Company performance/reputation a key factor in considering leaving their current role.
When are employees resigning?
Of those employees who have been in their current seat for six months or less, 61 percent are actively looking for a new role.
Clearly, “stay for at least one year” is no longer heeded advice – the belief that short stints in your resume make you more undesirable is no longer valid as employees are looking for the best/right fit rather than “toughing it out” for a year plus.
The real danger zone is 7-11 months when 67 percent of employees said they were actively looking.
What does this mean?
Senior employees are the lifeblood of many organizations, and this seems to indicate they are not getting the attention, resources or investment they need to stick around from their organizations.
Similarly, the values and desires of workers, such as those outlined by the younger workers above, need to be taken into consideration when offering employee benefits.
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.
