After the Great Resignation of 2021 and 2022, the working world may soon experience a new trend that HR software company ADP is calling the Big Stay.
As job openings have declined this year, from 10.6 million in January to 10.1 million in April, quit rates have simultaneously dropped. April’s quit rate of 2.4% was close to February 2020’s 2.3%—the final month before lockdowns began in March of that year.
ADP chief talent officer Jay Caldwell says what hints at the possible shift from the Great Resignation to the Great Retention are the dramatic swings in quit rates since the pandemic started, which used to be a stable economic metric.
Caldwell attributes the latest downswing in quit rates to the economic uncertainty that has made people more hesitant to switch jobs. Workers fear that if they start a new job during a recession, they could get laid off as part of a “last in, first out” policy.
Another factor, according to Caldwell, is that many workers who were interested in finding a new job likely already did and aren’t on the job hunt anymore.
Even though employees are staying put, that doesn’t mean companies should ease up on their retention efforts. As CHRO Daily reported earlier this month, workers less interested in moving to a new company are more likely to view their employer favorably. But any increase in job satisfaction is often borne of a “beggars can’t be choosers” mentality rather than one of genuine fulfillment.
For Caldwell, career growth is the number one thing companies should offer their employees during the Big Stay. In an ADP survey of global workers, 40% said career progression is the most important thing to them at work, and 23% specifically cited training and development as their top priority.
“If someone joins your organization and they're not growing and developing, they're not going to stay for the pay alone because what you start to see then is career stagnation,” Caldwell says.
Interestingly, when it comes to career growth, employees relish trying something new rather than adding responsibilities to their current roles. Employees also want to know the company's business priorities in order to align their skills-building with their employer's future objectives.
“What companies can do a lot better is share more about their needs, where they’re going as an organization, and what are going to be the most critical three or four skills in that space three or four years from now,” Caldwell says.
Paolo Confino
paolo.confino@fortune.com
@paolo1000_
