The Revolution in UK Employment
DID you know that a whopping one-third of UK workers have left their jobs because of toxic workplace cultures? It's a shocking statistic uncovered by recent research from the Chartered Management Institute (or CMI), highlighting a pressing issue in today's employment landscape. The results of this new survey underline the risks of managers failing to rein in toxic behaviour, and the research carried out by the CMI pointed to widespread concern about the quality of management, and its impact on workers’ daily lives. As concerns about management quality and workplace dynamics continue to rise, it's clear that old-school leadership tactics just won't cut it anymore.
Other factors that the 2,018 workers questioned in the survey cited as reasons for leaving a job in the past included a negative relationship with a manager (28%) and discrimination or harassment (12%). Among those workers who told researchers they had an ineffective manager, one-third said they were less motivated to do a good job – and as many as half were considering leaving in the next 12 months.
What’s going on?
In the 2020s the culture of work changed, mainly because of Covid policies and Generation Z. Covid led to a furlough scheme where workers were paid not to work and, more importantly, when in work they were encouraged to work from home. The Covid period lasted two years around 2019 to 2020, just long enough for working habits to change for countless people.
During this time Generation Z workers started to replace older generations in the workforce, ushering in a cultural shift that now emphasises the importance of finding fulfilment and enjoyment in work in order to retain employees. There are two obvious symptoms of this disturbing change in UK employment. The first is labour turnover has ballooned. People are leaving jobs in their droves.
I have contacted 5 of our best clients Some having won national awards for excellence and they all share the same problem, they are losing some of their best people. The second is absenteeism and sickness has also increased with workers citing poor mental health as a big issue.
So, what should business leaders do to fix the problem? First, they should stop denying the problem exists or assume it will go away. Secondly, they must look at themselves constructively; the rules have changed now they must adapt fresh changes to the way people are managed.
To identify the new culture we look to Funky Business, by Ridderstrale & Nordstrom: “Today people work to have fun, meet people and develop themselves, but they no longer work out of a moral obligation. Work is no longer automatically accepted as a good thing. Motivation for work can no longer be taken for granted. We’ve moved from ‘have to work’ to ‘want to work’.”
That’s the dilemma: how do you change culture so that workers want to work? The bottom line? The way we work is changing fast, and businesses need to keep up. From recognising the problem to implementing real solutions, it's time for leaders to step up and create workplaces where people want to be. It starts with top leaders getting the policies and processes in place and then the middle and junior managers must be trained and developed to the new way of working. It may sound painful, but what’s the alternative?
Luckily at access2growth, we use our tailored ADP (Advanced Development Programme), designed to equip leaders with the tools and insights needed to navigate and thrive in this new era of employment, and we are confident it can work for businesses across a wide variety of industries.
