None dare call it the Great Resignation Part 2, but employees are getting restless again.

According to a recent Gallup survey, more than half of U.S. workers (51 percent) say they’re considering looking for a new job. People aren’t leaving their jobs at the rates they were a few years ago, but as a report on the survey notes, “employees’ long-term commitment to their organizations is currently the lowest it has been in nine years.”

That softness in the workforce doesn’t appear to have so much to do with economic anxiety or return-to-the-office resentment, two of the biggest hot-button workforce issues during the pandemic. Rather, it seems interpersonal dynamics are playing a strong role: Gallup found that 42 percent of those who voluntarily left their jobs in the past year said leadership could have done something to keep them—but didn’t.

That’s a statistic that should give leaders pause, both within their associations and their industries, as a workforce gap has many concerned about keeping good people. 

42 percent of those who voluntarily left their jobs said leadership could have done something to keep them.

Organizations are feeling the pinch and are aware they need to do something: A recent Gallagher survey of U.S. employers around workforce well-being [PDF] found that retaining talent was, by a wide margin, a top organizational priority, with 61 percent citing it as a top priority; the second-highest concern, at 41 percent, was attracting talent in the first place.

So, how to get there? Compensation and benefits matter, of course—74 percent of respondents to the Gallagher survey said they’ve increased base salary, and 32 percent say they’ve increased medical benefits. But those moves aren’t guarantees that people will stay, and don’t speak to the culture of an organization. According to the Gallup survey, 21 percent of employees who left their jobs said “more positive interpersonal interactions with [a] manager” would have prevented them from leaving. Interactions, even short ones, matter. As Gallup’s Corey Tatel and Ben Wigert note, “when a manager has one meaningful conversation a week with each direct report, employees are four times as likely to be highly engaged…. These conversations are more meaningful when they focus on goals and priorities, recognition for recent work, collaboration, and using employees’ strengths.”

And leaders can’t sit and wait for an employee to tell them they’re feeling alienated or discouraged—they need to be proactive. “Ongoing, meaningful conversations about issues most influencing people’s job satisfaction, performance, and future with the organization are essential to developing and retaining top talent.”

An old saw says that people don’t leave jobs—they leave people. That’s borne out by some of the open-ended responses to the Gallup survey. Asked what could’ve been done to keep them at their job, one responded: “Treated me with respect and shown concern for my wellbeing and its employees’ happiness.” Another wished an employer “helped me in a path to advance my career [and] taken an active role in helping me feel vested in my future.” Those aren’t especially big asks—respect, attention, and support. Even if your people are keeping silent, leaders would do well to assume that their people are, in their way, always asking for that support.

[iStock/VioletaStoimenova]