The Great Resignation

The Great Resignation was big. Millions of people around the world quit their jobs rather than returning to the status quo of their working lives before the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting global lockdown. 

The pandemic only accelerated trends that had been building for most of the century. Over the last four decades, the half-life of learned skills has dropped from 30 years to fewer than four, in large part because of the accelerating pace of change driven by the tech revolution. According to noted business visionary John Seely, this trend will continue to accelerate in the years ahead. While employees were forced to work at home, the reason they could work at home was thanks to technological breakthroughs like Zoom, smartphones, ultra-high-speed broadband, and more. Further, many of them liked working from home better than going to a traditional office. And, thanks to the rise of the economy over the previous decade, they also found they could earn a living without being at the mercy of a single employer.

The result was the biggest shift in the workforce since the Industrial Revolution.

Many companies saw the Great Resignation as a serious threat to their future. In fact, it may be a benefit. For one thing, it may help them escape the boom/bust cycle—and the attendant chaos and strife—of hiring and laying off workers according to the vagaries of the business cycle. The Great Resignation suggested  enterprises that retain employees as their productivity degrades will hurt their competitiveness. On the other hand, organizations that can easily adjust employment levels in response to economic shifts and who can employ workers with the most up-to-date skill sets will have a distinct competitive advantage. 

That means taking advantage of the new phenomenon of Staff on Demand.