What matters most to employees in 2022. Hint: it's not money.

Learning and training opportunities have a great impact on employee retention.

The Great Resignation forces companies to change how they view – and what they offer to – workers.

A new survey conducted by Bain/Dynata shows that to compete in the war for talent, companies need to invest in their employees, whose priorities have changed following the pandemic and the great worker reshuffle the latter has caused.

58 percent of 20,000 employees surveyed by Bain/Dynata said that the pandemic has forced them to rethink the balance of work and life. According to the survey, under the title “The Working Future: More Human, Not Less”, while 56 percent of respondents listed compensation in their top three priorities, only 22 percent of employees named high salary and benefits as the things that matter most to them in a job.

The Great Resignation: what is it, what has caused it?

The Great Resignation is an economic trend describing the mass scale of resignations beginning in early 2021, mainly in the United States, but also in Europe, China and India. The term was proposed by Anthony Klots, a professor of management at Texas A&M University.

According to the latest figures, over 20 million people quit their jobs only in the second half of 2021 in the US, while a study from Microsoft recently showed that 41% of the global workforce is considering leaving their job in 2022, despite large numbers of vacant positions worldwide. For instance, in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, more than a third of companies reported in August that they were lacking skilled workers.

Millenials and Generation Z have played a big part in the exodus. A recent study from Adobe found that more than half of Gen Z reported planning to search for a new job within 2022.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which encouraged, and in many cases forced, remote and hybrid work, has allowed employees to rethink their careers, work conditions, and long-term goals; they are now determined to negotiate again with their employers.

From talent takers to talent makers

To stay in the fight for talent, and retain their employees, companies are forced to rethink their approach and adjust to their workers' priorities and needs. Talent is now undeniably becoming the company’s most valuable resource.

Work - life balance as well as the need for professional progress has come to the forefront of the relationship between employees and companies. Investing in workers is the key for companies to stay in the fight for talent. This means offering them learning opportunities through training and upskilling programs, cultivating a sense of growth and a winner mentality within the organization, and helping them leverage their skills and talents to the fullest.

Employees have a job to do, but employers have now more than ever the responsibility of humanizing work and equipping their workers with the tools to shine and thrive.