Creating the Job You (Really) Want

The Great Resignation Showed Us What Employees (Really) Wanted

The Great Resignation is a term coined by management professor Anthony Klotz, to describe the mass exodus of employees from their organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on data primarily from the United States, the unprecedented rate of employees quitting their jobs during this period is a historic high. In 2021, 47.8 million employees quit their jobs – an average of 4 million each month, exceeding the monthly average of 3.5 million in 2019 [1]. Closer to home, The Malaysian Reserve reports that 73% of Malaysian employees would consider job opportunities regionally - a sentiment shared with employees in our regional neighbours in Singapore, China, and Hong Kong [2]. The report also highlights some key psychological drivers as well for intentions to quit – 51% of employees said they would leave if the new job provided them with growth opportunities, and 37% are willing to do so for job prospects that offered them the chance to acquire long-term marketable skills. The results of these surveys are perhaps unsurprising – certainly a reflection of the changing nature of work, but also, an insight into the underlying psychological drivers that drive meaningful, productive work. Requests for greater flexibility and work arrangements, however, reflect employees’ desire for greater autonomy and control over their workday, leading to companies even offering employees options for fully remote work [3]. There have also been calls for organizations to pay more attention to worker wellbeing – a response stemming from the realization that long hours have not led to greater productivity but rather, as causes of elevated stress and burnout [4].

Research shows that people can – and some do, find intrinsic motivation to work. People find dignity in work, so how work is designed can have a crucial impact on worker motivation, productivity, and satisfaction. Simply put, work can be satisfying if it is designed right. One classic model of job motivation, the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham, for example, details that for work to be meaningful and satisfying, it needs to be designed to offer the worker the chance to: (i) make use of a variety of skills, (ii) identify with the task they do (iii) see the task as significant towards a greater end (iv) work autonomously and (v) receive feedback on their work progress. Jobs with these qualities ultimately offer workers a sense of psychological ownership – the extent to which the performer feels that a job outcome – a product developed or service rendered, is “theirs” [5]. The Great Resignation, may thus, at its core, be driven by employees’ inherent need for greater ownership of their work. Numerous accounts – perhaps even in your sharing with colleagues, friends, and family members, seem to reflect a sense of diminished ownership. The abrupt changes to long-standing assumptions and approaches to work led to employees feeling that they didn’t have much work they could call their own. The quality of one’s work experiences would no doubt be further diminished without sufficient encouragement, let alone feedback from leaders and managers. Without clear measures to provide feedback and reward employees’ performance, it is unsurprising that employees end up feeling under-appreciated, and even exploited. We spend hours toiling in front of our screens, not only unaware of how well we are doing, but also realizing that the work we are engaging in isn’t something we can confidently, or proudly claim as ours [6].

Job Crafting: Taking Back Ownership by Crafting Your Job

Of course, organizations can and should design work that increases the key desirable outcomes from motivating work. They can design work that allows fulfils the five core characteristics outlined by the JCM, which will arguably lead to greater motivation, performance, satisfaction and lower absenteeism and turnover. But is there anything employees themselves can do to tilt the scales of work – and work ownership, in their favour? We all want work that is inherently motivating and sustainable – but what if your organization does little towards this aim? Before you consider calling it quits, consider how research on job crafting can help you take back ownership and help you shape your job to be one that is more personally motivating and fulfilling.

Job crafting is the act of modifying aspects of one’s job to improve its between with your needs, abilities, and preferences [7]. Job crafting is, in its essence, finding ways to alter, balance, and even improve on the characteristics of your job so that it offers you greater autonomy, variety, and growth opportunities. A meta-analysis comprising 35,670 employees shows that job crafting has positively consistent – and strong effects on work engagement, satisfaction, and performance [8]. You can try crafting the two main facets of your job – how it is designed (i.e., structural job resources) and the nature of the relationships you have with others at work (i.e., social job resources). Here are some guiding questions you can reflect on to explore ways to craft your job:

Craft Your Structural Job Resources

• Autonomy: How much flexibility do you have in terms of how you are expected to do your job? Is there a possibility for you to request flexibility in your work arrangements? If so, you might want to opt for remote work on some days and be in the office on others. But before you do, think about how you might convince your supervisor to trust you in the work that you do.

• Variety: Does your job allow you to make use of a variety of skills? If your work is starting to feel mundane and routine, could you seek out complementary roles or projects that allow you to make use of other skills?

• Opportunities for Development: Does your job offer you the chance to learn as you work? Could you seek out assignments within or external to your organization that help you grow professionally?

Craft Your Social Job Resources

• Social Support: Who among your colleagues can you seek to provide you with social support, encouragement, and work assistance? Are there professional relationships you can strengthen to help enhance your performance and wellbeing at work.

• Feedback: Do you receive enough feedback on the quality of your work? If not, who could you ask for such feedback? Which of your colleagues or supervisors can you think of that would provide you constructive, impartial, and specific feedback that would enhance your development?

• Coaching: Does your work offer you the chance to receive coaching, guidance, or mentoring? Can you seek out someone to be a career sponsor that would elevate your personal and professional prospects?

Granted, the extent to which you can craft your job is dependent on the nature of your work, industry, and existing conditions surrounding both the structural and social faces of your work. But if you haven’t thought about throwing in the towel yet in your current workplace, there is perhaps a chance you can craft your job into something that offers you greater ownership, engagement and daresay, meaning. A sense of certainty in our professional lives seems to be a much-needed remedy to the upheavals we’ve experienced over the past two years. The nature of work has indeed changed, so what we now define as meaningful work should, too, change along with it.

References:

[1] SHRM (2022). Interactive chart: How historic has the Great Resignation been? Available at: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/interactive-quits-level-by-year.aspx

[2] Hani, A. (2022). The great resignation could happen in Malaysia: Randstad. Available at: https://themalaysianreserve.com/2022/03/01/the-great-resignation-could-happen-in-malaysia-randstad/

[3] Stoller, K. (2021). Never want to go back to the office? Here’s where you should work. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinstoller/2021/01/31/never-want-to-go-back-to-the-office-heres-where-you-should-work/?sh=7b7b276e6712

[4] Hanson, T. (2022). Why employees are leaving – and the culture that makes them stay. Available at: https://fortune.com/2022/01/18/great-resignation-workplace-culture-flexibility-well-being-linkedin/

[5] Pierce, J. L., Jussila, I., & Cummings, A. (2009). Psychological ownership within the job design context: Revision of the job characteristics model. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(4), 477-496.

[6] Aguinis, H., & Burgi-Tian, J. (2021). Talent management challenges during COVID-19 and beyond: Performance management to the rescue. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 24(3), 233-240.

[7] Berg, J. M., Dutton, J. E., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2008). What is job crafting and why does it matter. Retrieved from the website of Positive Organizational Scholarship on April 15, 2011.

[8] Rudolph, C. W., Katz, I. M., Lavigne, K. N., & Zacher, H. (2017). Job crafting: A meta-analysis of relationships with individual differences, job characteristics, and work outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 102, 112-138.

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