How to navigate the Great Resignation: The reading list for HR leaders

As pandemic restrictions begin to lift, there’s an emerging trend at work running parallel to returning to the office: People are quitting their jobs in record numbers. In the U.S. in May 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported more than five million people left their jobs.

And that trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

According to a 2021 Microsoft survey, 41% of U.S. workers consider quitting or changing professions this year. And that’s just in the U.S. A study of U.K. and Ireland workers showed that 38% planned to leave their jobs in the next six to twelve months.

For organization leaders, those numbers can be both good and worrisome. If you’re hiring, there are now more great candidates available than ever. The other side of that is that you’re now going to have to work harder to keep your best people.

To help you navigate the Great Resignation and come out the other side with a stronger workforce, we put together a reading list of what you need to know.

Life is learning. Your people want to grow their skills and stretch their brains. And if you aren’t helping them do that, they’ll go somewhere that will. The best way to retain employees during the Great Resignation is to make learning the core of your people’s everyday work.

Learn how to make learning part of your organization’s DNA directly from a Cornerstone customer that did just that. — Creating a culture of lifelong learning at Thames Water

Many employees leave because they are burnt out or just bored. Laurie Ruettiman walks you through how you can use learning as an antidote to a disengaged workforce. — Learning is the antidote to career fatigue and boredom

For potential employees, your recruiting team is the face of your organization. Teddy Dimitrova explains how focusing on your recruiters’ learning reverberates through your organization. — Learn now or regret it later

Learning can be a core tenant of your organization, but that doesn’t mean much if people aren’t learning in ways that benefit them and your organization. Just learning for learning’s sake doesn’t help anyone in the long run. So focus on engaging your people to learn and upskill in ways that benefit you both.

Knowing where to start can be almost more challenging than the actual learning and upskilling. That’s why we made this list of the three places to focus your efforts when just getting your reskilling efforts started. — Bridge the workforce skills gap: 3 key places to start

Transition isn’t hard just on employees. Your organization’s leaders need new skills too. Here are five ways you can help your leaders handle change with confidence. — 5 skills all leaders need in times of transition

The best way to counter a constantly changing world is with agility. Learn the critical factors for any successful upskilling and reskilling strategy. — Upskilling and reskilling: The art of coping with permanent change

The number of studies that show that diverse teams perform better and are happier is legion. To retain and attract the best people, you need to look at all people and create a workplace that works for everyone.

A diverse workforce starts with diverse recruiting practices. Here are found ways you can make equitable recruiting are a mainstay of your recruiting strategy. — Working together through change: Four ways to recruit with diversity

With more people outwardly identifying as LGBTQ+, organizations need to ensure they create work environments where all identities feel welcome and encouraged to do their best work. — 3 ways to build an LGBTQ+ inclusive work environment

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are the main factors that create a culture of belonging where anyone can find success and support. We spoke to six DEI experts about how you can ensure you’re developing the right kind of DEIB strategy. — What we learned from 6 conversations with DEI experts

As a society, we tend to still think of AI in terms of robot apocalypses. But those are just movies. When you build ethical AI, your organization does more to personalize work to each person while aligning them more with your organizational goals.

We’ve been moving away from classroom learning for a while, and the pandemic only sped that up. Now that so much training is done online, here’s how to ensure you and your people are getting the most out of the time they spend training. — Empowering the future workforce part 2: Rethinking employee development

AI has applications all across your organization. It is not limited to hard skills and sciences. AI can also help your managers with the soft skills they need to motivate and engage your people. — How AI can help managers be better coaches

When developing AI for your organization, it is critical you build a system with sound ethics at its core. Jose Alberto Rodriguez Ruiz, chief data protection officer at Cornerstone, has some guidance for you. — The importance of ethical AI for HR