Whaddya Gonna Do, Quit? In This Economy?

There are some bosses who think that quitting is the only leverage an employee holds. It looks like this:

It's a candidate's market. We need to make sure people are happy so they don't leave.

The economy sucks. If they don't like it, they can quit. And, no one's going to quit because they've got nowhere to go.

Both points of view illustrate how bosses treat their direct reports can be tightly correlated to whether employees can quit.

This is why people hate going to work, yet continue to do so. When people hate going to work, they are in no way offering their best work. They might not be holding back, they may be giving all they've got, but they don't have much left to give.

At the tail of the pandemic, the fear was the Great Resignation. Today, as both job openings and resignations decline, organizations face a more insidious threat entitled, "The Great Detachment."

Coined by Gallup, this period is characterized by employees feeling stuck, disengaged, and disheartened, often because they lack opportunities for growth and autonomy. While turnover risk might be momentarily lower, the price is diminished productivity, loss of future talent, and widespread resistance to change. Global job dissatisfaction is reported at 65% and only 31% of U.S. employees are engaged, which is the lowest level in a decade.

It's no surprise to people paying attention, that this this is not an HR problem, but a reflection of leadership choices. HR can pull some levers, such as requiring supervisors to hold coaching sessions (versus tactical weekly updates) with their employees, but the supervisors come in unprepared or, disregard the professional development and opt for a list of updates and to-do's, there's not much HR can do to ensure the supervisor's employee has a good experience.

PREMISE: No one goes to work to fail.

With that in mind, here are some ways to affect positive change at work..

Prioritize Leader Engagement to Spark the Cascade

Managers account for a 70% of the variance in team engagement. For context, data continues to show most people quit their boss, not their job. Managers accounting for nearly 3/4 of the variance is completely plausible. If leaders are disengaged, their teams will follow. The strategic move is adopting an approach where senior leadership equips managers to cultivate trust and connection. Or, you know, leads the promotion of the cultural tone.

Actionable Insight: Leaders must show up differently by modeling vulnerability, adaptability, and a growth mindset. Leadership requires moving beyond a command-and-control crisis response to building and unleashing winning teams. As one CEO noted, bringing more humanity and being transparent about doubt and weakness strengthens impact and credibility.

Please take a second to examine the idea of "bringing more humanity" in this context. Vulnerability, while over-used and potentially bringing a therapy vibe, is meant to refer to being a human including mistakes, not knowing, and admitting when someone else has a better idea.

Measure Outcomes, Not Activity

Rapid organizational changes and the persistence of hybrid work have rendered traditional management by monitoring ineffective, even if some bosses haven't figured this out, yet. Excessive work pressure and unclear or inconsistent instructions magnify stress and lead to burnout, which is a major source of dissatisfaction.

Actionable Insight: Move from monitoring activity to outcomes-driven management. This requires defining clear, performance-driven goals for individuals and teams. Trust-based leadership, paired with accountability for results, has been found to deliver substantially better performance than fear-based management styles. When leaders focus on results, virtual workers deliver higher-quality work.

While it's a snarky approach, when Clark spent so much time on the lights, he didn't get the intended outcome. The brighter side of this is when a person spends LESS time than expected and still meets or exceeds expectations (but, that doesn't make for a great comedic bit).

Turn Conversations into Growth Pathways

A top driver of detachment is the perception of stalled career development, with 21% of employees blaming limited advancement opportunities for their dissatisfaction. This is particularly pronounced in younger generations, like Gen Z, who expect continuous learning.

Actionable Insight: The one-on-one meeting is a cornerstone of effective leadership. Implement regular 1-on-1s (separate from performance reviews) to foster trust, align goals, and discuss career aspirations. Leaders should invest in their coaching skills, as nearly two-thirds (64%) of employees desire better feedback. For cost-effective development, leverage internal resources through mutual mentorship, where all generations serve as both teachers and learners.

Integrate Technology with Trust

The rapid advancement of AI and technology adoption is another source of anxiety, leading employees to use new tools in secret out of fear of punishment. Successful AI adoption, much like flexible work, requires intention, investment, and trust.

Actionable Insight: Leaders must create space for experimentation and provide clear policies and training to address employee anxiety around AI. Effective leaders must get their hands on new tools themselves, building trust by learning and adapting alongside their teams. Technology adoption, when done successfully, relies on the same framework as distributed work adoption: clear team norms and a culture rooted in trust and accountability.

Being proactive requires action rather than reaction. Commit to the following behaviors to help potentially reverse the Great Detachment:

prioritizing engagement

focusing on outcomes

building growth through conversation

integrating technology with trust

This is a good start to increasing employee engagement and leading your teams away from dissatisfaction toward a more effective organization and positive workplace culture.