Open Organisations and The Great Resignation

It seems like everyone is resigning at the moment. I’m happy to report that this doesn’t apply to 100%Open, but a recent study of UK workers from HR software company, Personio, showed that 38% of employees planned to quit in the next year. In the US, April saw more than four million people resign. This is being dubbed The Great Resignation, and could see a marked change in organisational culture that would emerge from the shop floor, as opposed to from above.

In conversation with clients and Associates about how post-pandemic work culture is changing, I have noticed two camps: the first believes that nothing much will change, because growing strong internal cultures is done best face-to-face. Interestingly, this camp tends to consist more of employers than employees. The second camp, however, shows a marked reduction in the appetite for long daily commutes, workplace stresses and pointless meetings. In keeping with the findings so far, this view is more prevalent in employees.

We will be keeping a careful eye on this trend, as it impacts our work in culture change. Our thinking is that those companies that are more open are more likely to retain their best employees. The 100%Open Open Organisation Test is one way of diagnosing this. Not only is there an overall openness score, but this is broken down into 8 sections, the most relevant here being People and Purpose. You can take the test here and get your colleagues in on it too, so that

 you can have more of a holistic view of how open your team is on an individual as well as collective basis. A team discussion will be beneficial, and may even allow employers and employees to seek common ground more easily.

Perhaps opening the door wider is the key to encouraging people to stay.