The great resignation, what’s next ? 1 (of 2)

A few recent stats :

• 40% of the global workforce were considering quitting their job in 2021 ( Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index)
• 65% of employees are looking for a new job and 88% of executives experience higher turnover than normal (PricewaterhouseCoopers survey August 2021)
• 73% (of Fortune 1000) CEOs say the work shortage is disrupting their businesses & 57% believe attracting talent is among their company’s biggest challenges (Deloitte study October 2021)

A similar phenomenon is occurring in China, referred to as “ tang ping “, in India and of course in Europe, with Germany apparently leading the trend.

There’s a link with Covid for sure.

People have had time to think… Being confronted to a great change can have this effect : a heads up event, for people who might have been “heads down” for years, and not asking themselves many questions.

It also might have other causes:

• Startups are raising a lot of money and are creating millions of jobs everywhere, including remote jobs, that can benefit virtually everyone, and they’re playing the highest bidder, since “resources” are scarce, which creates an environment for the more opportunistic employees to shop around
• New communities are built around core convictions, climate change, animal welfare, biodiversity, social equality and many others. For some employees, it can justify leaving employers who are found to deliver poorly on those core convictions.
• I personally strongly believe that there is a “Employee pyramid of needs” effect, and that we are at it’s 3rd level :

1. The first level would have been the stage where people look for a job for access to basic resources : food, housing,…
2. The second level would have been the stage where people look for a job that brings them social status, wealth, and “perks”
3. The third stage would be the one we’re seeing now, where people look for a job that aligns with their convictions, and often that means a sense of belonging and purpose

• A network effect that took time to grow, where people who had made the leap of faith to quit to join somewhere more fulfilling had to become numerous enough that the word could spread that you can align yourself with your values and still be very successful.
• The rise of content creators showing how “a job” has many definitions, and for some “a job” can be to show your skills, whatever they are, on Youtube or elsewhere, raising questions about even working for someone …
• The rise of freelance and digital nomads
• And probably dozens of other factors (what are yours ? use the comments, we’ll build a FAQ)

Looking at all of that I started to wonder, what era is being built right now ? What does this lead to ?

My bet is that this is something big.

A global cultural shift, which will change the order of the world.

My bet is that in 15 years, we’ll have most world leading companies fighting to be the most attractive to talents, in terms of fulfillment and purpose.

A lot of it of course will be “washing” but more and more people will have grown conscious of that and able to differentiate genuine intentional companies from their culture washing counterparts.

Resulting in new players amongst the world leaders, who got there thanks to their ability to attract all the “deceived” talent from their competitors and take their place in the long run.

Those players by the way, they’re the ones we want to partner with @ teampact.ventures.

Originally published at https://teampactventures.substack.com on February 2, 2022.