The FQ @CES 2022: Addressing the Great Resignation

According to the panelists, increased communication is key. As such, Carnegie wanted to know what has  most excited or impressed the panelists about their recent conversations with their teams and what had they learned.

Kimberly Minor, CEO, Bumbershoot, the Seattle-based international music and arts festival, offered that she was hearing from many different perspectives and was struck by the "generational differences." Those who tended most to exit their jobs were among her younger staffers. These were newer hires, mostly those who joined during the pandemic.

Andrea Cook, CEO of multinational ad agency Performance Art, said that she was struck by so many things changing so quickly and this made her all the more eager to hear from others.

Suggesting the importance of motivations behind the exit trend, Sherida McMullan, Lyft's Head of Inclusion and Diversity, emphasized the importance of deciphering employee "intentionality," going deeper into goals and needs. "We all have survey fatigue, so people do open up and share," she said.

Shifting the work force emphasis to leaders, Emily Ketchen, Lenovo Chief Marketing Officer & VP, IDG Worldwide, noted that executives can adjust to the new environment by modeling openness, vulnerability and change. To create an "environment to retain" requires executives to listen more carefully to company teams, to "how people are talking."

Addressing the question of why there continue to be so many exits, Intersection Chief Marketing Officer Esther Raphael suggested that employees' needs for change resonates, whether it is a worker's desire for "another country or another desk."

On the subject of better supporting employees in the workplace, Ketchen put the onus again on managers and whether they have the right tools to navigate in the current workplace climate.

Lyft's McMullan pointed to "the need to empower managers" to best support others so they have the adaptability and flexibility to function at home. This led to questioning whether there is enough of a focus on intentions; might family commitments be weighing more heavily on employees nowadays?

Cook introduced the importance of kindness, as employees often feel their needs aren't being met. She suggested one-on-one conversations as key to alleviating such issues.

Also, on the need for optimum communication, Minor brought up the need for more sharing. People in companies, she believes, need to open up more and managers may not be doing enough to facilitate this, especially with the pandemic going on.

Panelists agreed that a better understanding of conversations is critical on all sides, including what should be discussed and how often. And such talks and openness are needed during the employment period, not as part of any exit discussions.

Adding to the importance of good communication and management's increased responsibility in this new era, Minor observed that when employees go to Human Resources (HR), they are often going to someone in the middle. So, it is up to the manager to ensure that there are more regular manager/employee meetings. These communications should include affirmations and, again, not at exit points but during employment. In other words, the "flowers" and "thank you" affirmations of the exit ritual must be conveyed during employment.

Cook emphasized that the talks should go beyond "How are you?" wallpaper questions and be substantive and frequent. She reminded us all that employees, like all of us, can have their bad days (their "dark tower" days) but the goal is to help them those tough times.

Raphael added that quality relationships that executives and managers build with key people on their teams are also critical to effective communications. Here, trust is an important factor.

Another strategy toward workplace stability is "arming people with the best technology," thus providing them with a better environment and easing their problems, said Lenovo's Ketchen.

Mentoring is also "highly empowering," she emphasized, as "we're all in this together."

Regarding such support, McMullan emphasized the value of sponsorships.

Several panelists ended the discussion with reminders of how critical it is during the Great Resignation to just be "good humans." Whether or when so much executive wisdom will lead to the longed for and much needed Great Retention will be something The Female Quotient might tackle at CES 2023.

This report was written by Doris Toumarkine.

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