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The Great Resignation: Retain Your Talent With Professional Coaching
Employee Experience and Well-being

The Great Resignation: Retain Your Talent With Professional Coaching

2022-10-13
·
7 min read
TABLE OF CONTENT

Where Have All the Workers Gone?

Job growth is strong. Unemployment is at its lowest level in decades. And yet, companies are scrambling to find, hire, and retain talent. Roles go unfilled. Those that are filled come at a high price.

From a worker’s perspective, it’s a buyer’s market. From an employer’s perspective, it’s the Great Resignation.

Quitting Is at an All-Time High

People are quitting in numbers not seen in over 20 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS defines a "quit" as someone who voluntarily leaves their job—excluding retirees or transfers.

The aptly named JOLTS report (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) puts the current quit rate at 3.0%. That may not seem high, but it's statistically significant. The quit rate has only been higher twice in the past 70+ years—briefly in the late 1960s and mid-1970s.

In July 2022 alone, 4.2 million people quit their jobs. Industries with higher pay tend to retain employees better, but quit rates have risen across all sectors.

Why People Quit

It’s tempting to attribute this to the pandemic, but according to the Pew Research Center, fewer than a third of people cited the pandemic as their reason for quitting.

Most left because of low pay, lack of advancement opportunities, or feeling disrespected at work. Other reasons included childcare challenges, inflexible hours, and poor benefits.

PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey found that 20% of workers planned to quit in 2022, with nearly three-quarters citing pay as the primary reason. Workplace fulfillment was another key factor.

While burnout may not be the main cause, many workers felt it was simply time to “get out.” The pandemic opened people’s eyes to new ways of working. Remote work gave them freedom and flexibility—plus, many discovered they were more productive at home. Six out of ten people said they accomplished more working remotely than they expected.

Why People Stay

Today’s workforce is looking for meaningful work in environments where they can be their authentic selves. They want employers who care about their well-being, support creativity, and foster innovation.

While compensation and fulfillment are key, at least half of workers also seek flexibility, according to PwC. Fortunately, remote work is here to stay. On average, employees work remotely 2.4 days per week.

Remote work is most common in information, finance, and professional services. On the other hand, employees in transportation, hospitality, food service, and retail—whose roles are mostly on-site—have fewer remote options. After all, you can’t drive a truck from your living room.

Fight the Great Resignation with Professional Coaching

Quitting and staying are two sides of the same coin. The main reasons for both center around compensation, workplace fulfillment, and flexibility.

The good news? Companies are adapting. According to Pew, over half of those who switched jobs felt their new role was an improvement—with better pay, more advancement opportunities, and improved work-life balance. But “half” isn’t “all.” There’s still a long way to go.

As companies embrace the new normal, digital coaching offers a powerful way to retain top talent. It’s personalized, scalable, measurable—and growing fast. According to the 2020 ICF Global Coaching Study, the number of managers using coaching skills has increased by 46%.

Here’s how digital coaching boosts workplace fulfillment and supports success in remote and hybrid environments:

Digital Coaching for Workplace Fulfillment

Companies that invest in mental health and well-being create more fulfilling work environments. Well-being coaching supports personalized talent retention plans that go beyond job skills—treating employees as whole people, not just human capital.

Coaches help reduce stress, enhance emotional well-being, and foster a sense of purpose. Our research shows that:

  • 9 in 10 employees feel a stronger sense of purpose after coaching.
  • 8 in 10 report reduced stress levels.

This kind of support helps prevent burnout. And it works for managers too. Coaching leaders to understand and nurture well-being has major business benefits. Positive emotions lead to higher engagement and productivity.

Consider these stats:

Digital Coaching for Remote and Hybrid Environments

Shifting to a hybrid or fully remote workplace is a major culture shift. Digital coaching offers a long-term, tailored approach to support that transformation.

Coaches help teams and leaders develop the soft skills needed to collaborate, communicate, and innovate from anywhere. In fact, 85% of top managers who receive coaching outperform peers in soft skills.

As Maude Rogers, Global Culture Manager at Payfit, explains:

“Our entire company switched to a 100% teleworking model. This had a major impact on collaboration, particularly for managers. Loneliness, anxiety, and remote team management directly affected some of our employees and managers. We had to find solutions to help them. Individual support through coaching was the best solution to adapt to their individual needs.”

Explore more about how digital coaching helps companies retain talent in the face of the Great Resignation.

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