Can Technology Fix The Great Resignation?

Can Technology Fix The Great Resignation?

More than four million workers in the US left their jobs in the month of September alone. The workers blamed a number of factors for their loss of interest in their jobs and eventual quitting. Top on the list for desiring a job change was the ability to work remotely and burnout.

As a business leader, addressing the mass job quitting should be your priority, given the high cost of employee replacement. Fortunately, you can use technology to solve the main issues causing mass resignation. Partnering with a good IT service company will help you ease employee burnout, improve their work-life balance as you navigate the great resignation, as well as create a competitive edge for your business.

What is The Great Resignation?

The great resignation, also known as the big quit, is a trend of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs since the spring of 2021. It appears that the travel restrictions and lockdowns, issued to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, either gave employees a taste of freedom or instilled fear of contracting the coronavirus.

As a result, employees returning to work after the relaxation of the pandemic containment measures are either considering quitting their jobs or have already resigned. The numbers of employees who quit their jobs since May 2021 had already hit 20.2 million by September.

Why Should You Be Concerned?

Although workers that resign from their positions can be replaced, the process of replacement is costly and tedious. It costs your business 122% of the employee’s annual pay to train a new employee. Worse still, it may not be easy to find the right talent, especially in a period when employees are not eager to offer their services. The cost of training and difficulty of attracting talent may affect your business productivity way into 2022.

Why Employees Are Quitting Their Jobs

Employees quitting their jobs give a number of reasons behind their decision. Job flexibility/work-life, burnout, fear of the pandemic, and government stimulus checks are some reasons floated by the quitting employees.

Job flexibility and work-life balance are the main reasons for the mass resignation. Workers prefer a job that allows them to choose when to work and where to work from. A flexible job allows the workers to continue having time for their families like they used to during the pandemic. Burnout is another major reason for the big quit. Employees are suffering from exhaustion, particularly now that a considerable fraction has quit their jobs.

How Can Technology Fix the Big Quit?

Technology can help you solve most of the reasons given by resigning employees. However, you may need to outsource IT services to fix some of the challenges that cause dissatisfaction at the workplace. Here are five ways in which technology can help you fix the mass resignation.

Improved Work-life Management and Flexibility

IT management helps you fix flexibility challenges by enabling your employees to work remotely. Software such as Azure Virtual Desktop allows your employees to log onto their desktops from any location. The workers do not have to present themselves physically at your main office to complete their work assignments.

Depending on the nature of your work, you can allow your employees to work full time from home or to partly operate from home and at the office through the hybrid workplace model.

The hybrid workplace model can be adopted by virtually all industries. Whether you are in the engineering, construction, or accounting industry, there is a part of your assignments that can be handled remotely. Allowing your workers to work remotely helps you provide them with a much needed work-life balance. Your workers choose whether to work during the day or at night, depending on their personal schedules. As a result, your employees will be satisfied with their work and may have no reason to resign.

That said, remote working is almost new in most industries. Understandably, you may be concerned about the productivity of your remote employees. However, do not give into the pressure of monitoring your employees through employee surveillance software. You want to provide freedom for your employees and not an extension of office confinement. Instead, use other ways of measuring employee productivity, such as targets and deadlines.

Using Technology to Fix Employee Burnout

Burnout is the second most common reason why most employees are quitting their jobs. Your employees may be suffering exhaustion from undertaking simple repetitive tasks in their job design. You can solve burnout issues by automating some of your operations. Automation not only eases your employees’ workload, but also reduces the monotony of undertaking repetitive tasks.

You can consult your IT support team to help you develop an automation strategy. Automation allows you to use a small team to accomplish greater things in your business. It also helps you to eliminate costly errors that occur due to decreased concentration by your workers.

However, do not overly automate all aspects of your business. An overly automated HR, for instance, may withdraw the human face from your business. To prevent automation from working against you, you should retain some aspects of human interaction between your teams and their leaders. Automation and application of AI technologies should only augment human performance, but not try to turn human beings into machines.

Enhance Team Spirit

Frustrations at the workplace and the fear of the pandemic are also a cause for resignation. You can reduce workplace frustration by enhancing teamwork through virtual connections. Windows 11, for instance, helps remote workers maintain contact and connect with each other remotely. The virtual connections enable employees to interact with each other, while maintaining the required social and physical distance.

We Can Help

There are many reasons why some employees are no longer happy with their jobs. However, most of the reasons are related to issues that can be fixed with technology. At 360 Smart Networks, we provide IT services & technology solutions for different industries, including engineering firms, architectural firms, and construction firms in Atlanta & Charlotte. Our team will help you install the right technology to help fix the great resignation. Contact us today for more information about our services.