Over 82 percent of employers with employees who completely work from home say they have seen an increase in resignations.

This compares to 70 percent of those with some form of hybrid workforce and 54 percent of employees who never work from home. The latter – employers whose employees never work from home – are those most likely to report a reduction in the proportion of employees voluntarily resigning over the past year.

Also, 73 percent of employers have experienced an increase in employees voluntarily resigning over the past year. That figure rose to 83 percent for larger employers (those with between 251 and 5,000 employees). This decreased to 55 percent for smaller employers (those with between 26 and 50 employees).

Addressing the resignation issue

Working from home is no longer shown to be effective in stopping the ‘great resignation.’ Neither is hybrid working.

Employees are in a prime position to be more selective in the role they want, and the sort of organisations they want to work for.

Employers need to ensure they focus on communicating their organisation’s values, purpose, and culture to differentiate them from the pack, and that they engage and listen to their employees and act on their feedback, wherever possible.

Working from home aids recruitment

Whilst working from home is not conducive to retention, it most certainly benefits recruitment.

Only 51 percent of employers whose staff mostly work from home say they have found it more challenging than usual to recruit over the past year.

In comparison, that figure rises to 71 percent for employers whose staff work onsite at a workplace 60 percent to 100 percent of the time.

Employers with staff working 100 percent remotely are also three times more likely to report having found it easier than usual to hire new employees over the past year, when compared to employers with staff working 100% onsite at their workplace (27 percent compared to 8 percent).

Whilst offering work from home has helped many employers with their recruitment, it has had far less of an impact on their staff retention.

To combat the great resignation, addressing workers’ concerns regarding working from home should be a top priority for employers.