How employers can benefit from Great Resignation

Workplaces with this factor will have fewer walkouts during The Great Resignation, new research has revealed.

Older workers and women were found to be more harmoniously passionate about work.

Employers who embed wellbeing into the workplace will retain talent and be best placed to benefit from The Great Resignation, new research has revealed.

The Australian Psychological Society, in partnership with Melbourne University, conducted a survey of nearly 200 workers across a range of industries and education levels, finding employers who kept their workers happy, engaged and productive would experience fewer walkouts than those who didn’t.

Dubbed The Great Resignation in response to rising quit rates in the US following the Covid pandemic, Australia is yet to see similar patterns, but some experts believe it could be around the corner.

The study found just over half of the 193 workers surveyed agreed with the statement “I lead a purposeful and meaningful life” and 48 per cent felt passionate about their work.

The study differentiated the types of passion at work between harmonious passion which comes from a healthy work-life balance and obsessive passion where a person’s job conflict with other interests.

Older workers and women were found to be more harmoniously passionate about work while highly educated workers and those employed in telecommunications and healthcare were found to be more obsessively passionate.

Older workers and women were found to be more harmoniously passionate about work.

Other findings revealed one in four workers felt their workplace wasn’t a safe place to take interpersonal risks and 20 per cent found it difficult to ask colleagues for help.

According to the report, the key to retaining workers was through job crafting, which is the “informal ways you can shape your job so that it better aligns with your strengths, values and interests”.

This can be done by:

• Altering the number or type of activities you complete

• Proactively changing how, and who, you engage with at work

• Changing the way you “see” your job, such as value or meaning

APS CEO Zena Burgess said The Great Resignation provided an “opportunity” for businesses and workers.

“Workplaces that job craft have greater profitability and job satisfaction,” Dr Burgess said.

“Simple things like changing when you work on different types of tasks to match your mental ups and downs or offering to work with a colleague on a project to get to know and learn from them can increase job satisfaction and productivity significantly.

“Giving workers a greater say in how they work increases growth and profits for business. It’s a win-win.”

The research report was released on Monday to mark the beginning of National Pyschology Week, which will explore the role psychology plays in the workplace.

Originally published as How employers can benefit from Great Resignation