Why development organizations have yet to see a 'Great Resignation'

Economists and labor experts continue to trade theories about what is behind an apparent mass exodus from workplaces amid the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it’s a real trend, and even what to call it. What’s most commonly referred to as the “Great Resignation” has also earned more nuanced labels such as the “Great Reshuffle,” the “Great Rethink,” and the “Great Aspiration,” alluding to broader shifts in worker mindsets and employer-employee relationships that go beyond a desire to merely terminate employment. Whatever one might call it, many employees have left their jobs over the past two years, research has shown. This has been most noticeable in the United States, where more than 47 million Americans quit their jobs in 2021 — 5 million more than in 2019. Elsewhere, the phenomenon has varied by region, with a Microsoft study at the start of 2021 finding that 41% of workers globally were thinking about leaving their employers that year. “Employees are resigning en masse to prioritise their mental, physical, and financial well-being in job selection,” said Amanda Hahn, the interim chief marketing officer at HireVue, a recruiting-technology company that has conducted research on the issue. “It started in 2021 and doesn’t show signs of slowing down.” Some argue that the root causes in some regions go further back than the onset of COVID-19, but the pandemic’s role as the driving force behind the striking uptick is widely accepted. “[COVID-19 restrictions] gave people time and space to reflect on what they want and their values,” said Kate Bennett, the founder and director of KBhr, a human resources company that works with businesses in global development and a range of other industries. “A lot of people have got to the point of burnout and exhaustion,” she added. “Plus, many are looking for employers that will [continue to] offer remote or hybrid working.” To what extent the Great Resignation has applied to those working in global development has been less clear, but recent conversations with sector and labor experts provide a better understanding of development’s employment landscape in the wake of the pandemic’s most disruptive heights. Purpose-driven retention Leading HR professionals such as Michael Emery are generally not seeing the large waves of resignations that have taken place in other sectors. “We have some evidence that people are reassessing their values or priorities but not in big numbers,” said Emery, the HR director at the International Organization for Migration. Research backs up the idea that fewer development workers are quitting their jobs and looking for new positions because of pandemic burnout or similar reasons. HireVue’s 2022 trends report found that the sectors most affected by resignations have been education, health care, construction, software, and finance. Catty Bennet Sattler, HR director at the UN Refugee Agency, has also seen few resignations. Instead, she has noticed an increase in applications, including interest in roles related to the Ukraine war. There could be a number of reasons for this, Bennet Sattler said, including the fact that many people working in the development sector are driven by cause rather than pay. “[Our employees are] purpose-driven by nature,” she said. “Since the pandemic, people are looking for something that’s bigger than themselves — but we already have that.” Emery agreed that the fulfillment offered by many development roles may account for the sector’s higher retention. “When we look at the value proposition that certain organizations have, there’s a strong attraction to stay working there because there’s a greater sense of purpose,” he said, adding, “If you work on the really courageous issues — like environment, children, labor rights, migration, refugees, food security — these do have a strong value proposition.” For some development workers, an identification with their roles may be another factor. “Once you’re a humanitarian, it’s a harder transition to not be a humanitarian any longer,” Bennet Sattler said. There also may be less temptation to leave for those working at large international organizations, which offer a variety of roles and opportunities. “If you’re a curious job hopper, we allow you to do that within the organization and we give quite a lot of space to that,” Bennet Sattler said. No Great Resignation, but greater expectations While many development organizations have not yet experienced a Great Resignation, the pandemic has still shaped employee expectations. “At a workforce level, we’re definitely seeing calls for more flexibility, more self-management,” Bennet Sattler said. “People have learned to work differently.” Often, employees are placing value on flexible working and support. “They are looking for an employer that values their needs, provides support with well-being and mental health, as well as policies around flexible working and remote working,” KBhr’s Bennett said. “Employers need to be promoting flexible working and hybrid working.” Development organizations that are worried about retention should consider compensation increases, learning and development allowances, and employee recognition programs, said HireVue’s Hahn. Mike Wright, director of membership and communications at Bond — the U.K. network for NGOs — also emphasized the continuing appeal of workplace flexibility. “Offering a hybrid solution to work has been crucial in attracting a pool of candidates for a role, as the change in attitudes towards work during lockdown [measures in the pandemic] continue to reverberate through the NGO system,” Wright wrote to Devex. Professionals may be dissatisfied with arrangements that fail to meet their expectations. In December, Devex reported that a plan for returning to the office was met with confusion and anger by staff members at the U.S. Agency for International Development, who said the agency provided unclear and contradictory messaging on flexible working. Experts agreed that employers will continue to see further reverberations from the pandemic. “It’ll have a big impact on the development sector because what they’ll find over time is that they’re recruiting more people from private and corporate backgrounds,” Bennett said.