The pandemic has been a turning point for many employees, leading them to reevaluate their jobs and rethink their priorities in the face of a once-in-a-lifetime public health disaster. The pandemic highlighted a number of pain points that have long been brewing in the workforce – stress, inflexibility, burnout, wage and benefits dissatisfaction and more. This has led to record numbers of people quitting their jobs, a phenomenon that Management professor Anthony Klotz has called The Great Resignation.

Companies are struggling to address the problem because they haven’t really made an effort to understand what their employees are running from or why they are leaving. Rather than invest in a more fulfilling employee experience, many companies are still ignoring employee demands and are jumping to quick fixes like raising compensation and providing retention bonuses, measures that usually fall flat.

Executives would be ill-advised to think that employee attrition is easing. The trend is not only poised to continue but could get much worse since employees are willing to quit even without a job lined up. While this may be a challenge, it also presents a unique opportunity. Companies that make an effort to better understand why employees are leaving—and take meaningful action—will have an edge in attracting and retaining talent.

As you assess this problem, think through the following:

  • Leaders who don’t make their people feel valued can drive them away, with or without a new job lined up. Employees desire both recognition and development. If you don’t reward and recognize people for good work, someone else will.
  • Your business will not survive the great resignation if your only response is to raise compensation or provide retention bonuses. Such responses make your work environment transactional in nature, you’re telling your people that their only reason to stay with you is a paycheck. Your best people will always have a better offer somewhere else.
  • If the past year and a half has taught us anything, it’s that the internet promotes productivity and team work at a much larger scale than any office floor. Your employees will have little tolerance for a return to a status quo if your reasons are not justified.
  • As a record number of employees leave their jobs, those left behind may be working themselves sick as they scramble to cover their former colleagues’ workloads. No amount of money will erase the resentment they feel toward an employer who has worked them to the point of injury or sickness over the past year. Remember to recognize these people for their contributions.

You may be putting your business at risk by not understanding why your employees are leaving. To gain an edge in the race to attract, develop, and retain talent, take a step back, listen to your employees, and make the changes they want.