What is UMB going to do about the Great Resignation? What is the University System of Maryland going to do? Here are research-supported recommendations from Gregory A. Brightbill.
The “Great Resignation” has hit the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). The writing is on the wall; well to be more exact, it is at www.umaryland.edu/jobs. Scrolling through UMB’s jobs portal, one can see countless openings, using promises of competitive salaries and signing bonuses to incentivize applicants and fill vacancies. However, I point out that this is a symptom of a more significant illness. UMB is experiencing higher employee turnover and increased difficulty securing potential employees. Essentially, like most of America, we, too, are experiencing the “Great Resignation.”
Called by many names such as the Great Resignation, the Great Attrition, or even the Great Attraction, across the U.S., employees are quitting their jobs in droves. In response to the Great Resignation, I challenge UMB to recognize the changing times, adapting our working model to meet the demands of an evolved workforce. To assume that the “new normal” will be comparable to the “old normal” would be similar to expecting the cretaceous period to bounce back after the Chicxulub impactor. In laymen’s terms, it didn’t end well for the dinosaurs then, and higher education won’t fare much better now. That is, unless we evolve.
It would be ignorant for higher education as an industry to think itself immune from the Great Resignation. In a February report, the Department of Labor released data showing that in 2020-2021, higher education had experienced a 13 percent turnover and 14 percent decline in institutional revenue. While UMB has largely avoided such a conundrum, some UMB colleagues and schools have had to enact cost-cutting measures, which further shakes our perceptions of job security and employee morale. As the saying goes, where there is smoke, there is fire. To expect that our employees will dutifully commit to weathering the storm would be ignorant and demeaning to the fact that we all have mouths to feed and bills to pay.
In an international poll, McKinsey & Company surveyed employees in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia, finding that 32 percent of employees in the education sector report that they are likely to quit their jobs. Even more striking, the same study found that 36 percent of people are willing to leave their current employer with no other job lined up. With our salaries often tied to state legislation, the expected impact of inflation has far outpaced any of our recent COLA raises and/or bonuses. At this time, as an employee, the best way to match your salary with inflation is to find new employment. When asked why they quit, most cite poor work-life balance, compensation, emotional and physical health, and continued inequities impacting BIPOCQ (Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Queer) groups. So now I ask: What is UMB going to do? What is the University System of Maryland going to do? Here are my research-supported recommendations:
1. Support young and burgeoning employees. Millennials and Gen Z’ers have heard the motto, “Last one in, first one out.” With turnover highest among younger employees, UMB must affirm its commitment to younger employees’ job growth and professional opportunities.
2. Be equitable and transparent in salaries. Our salaries are public. You can look up mine; you can look up President Jarrell’s; you can look up anyone’s! Yet, we continue to sustain a culture where salaries are not openly discussed, shared, and equitably distributed. This wage inequity is even more evident when comparing employees by race, gender, and pay. Therefore, UMB must embrace an open dialogue of compensation from the moment someone sees a job posting to every step of their UMB career. This should be viewed as a win-win scenario; research on the subject has shown that salary transparency improves employee morale, increases productivity, and helps keep inequitable practices in check.
3. Embrace flexible work schedules. The line between our professional and personal lives melted away during the pandemic. From seeing our spouses, children, and pets on our webcams to learning how to work from home, everything has changed, and so should our work models. Research has repeatedly shown that employee satisfaction is directly tied to workplace flexibility. We don’t just want telework, we also want the option to use our time as we wish as long as we get the job done.
4. Train managers to manage by results. The assumption that we have to be “managed” is degrading and ill-informed. In a study on management perceptions and telework, 31 percent of managers assumed that employees perform worse when working remotely. This is not an employee problem but a management one. By training managers to manage by results, we allow our employees to showcase their work through goal achievement rather than hourly measures connected to a 40-plus-hour workweek.
5. Embrace telework. We should celebrate the fact that our employees not only adapted to telework but also thrived under it! The pandemic showed us that the UMB community need not only exist on our physical campus. Data from Slack’s Future Forum showed that telework options are the new attractor, with over 83 percent of employees wanting to telework. At UMB, it is clear that employees are overwhelmingly adopting our telework options. So why not embrace increased telework opportunities and use them as an incentive to keep good employees? For example, during student breaks in the summer and winter, why not temporarily increase the number of telework days permitted so that employees can spend more time in the comfort of their homes?
As I wrap up, I want to make it clear that I love working at UMB. During the almost six years I have worked here, I have always cherished my work and my colleagues. More recently, I have been continually impressed with our institution’s leadership and its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a campus community, we continue to live up to our mission, improving the human condition and serving the people of Maryland. I pen this critique because I believe in UMB. To me, our new mantra of “UMB Together” means looking at the problems we face and accomplishing them as equals. In facing increased employee turnover, I hope you consider my advice and join me in building a solution.
Disclaimer: Elm Voices & Opinions articles reflect the thoughts or opinions of their individual authors, and may not represent the thoughts or values of UMB as an institution.