Employers’ strategies for preventing ‘conscious quitting’

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - The work world can be a tumultuous place, especially with the constantly shifting work environment. A new trend among young people that’s been becoming popular over the last year is being called ‘conscious quitting’ and has been shaping the work world.

“Conscious quitting” is described as an increase in the number of employees quitting their job due to their company’s values. In fact, according to a poll conducted by Stylist, they show that it’s prevalent among 18-to-24-year-olds.

Some employers at the Black Hills Regional Job Fair have taken notice of this shift in the work culture and have started to make changes to help retain and hire new individuals.

“People are interested now in what the company culture is and if they can align with the company culture and do they align with the company’s mission, vision, and values,” said Project Solutions human resources manager Kael Robarge-Golden. “We try and promote that in our company and have people understand what our core values are because if they can relate to that they’re more bought into wanting to work with the company, that they can relate to.”

The South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation said curating the work culture is what they would recommend some companies do to help retain employees.

“Creating that culture or that atmosphere where those individuals want to stay with that company. It could even range with their work benefits. Obviously, a lot of individuals these days are looking for what benefits are offered with those positions,” said South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulations employment specialists Jerome Wickersham.

This would help find that longevity many people struggle to find in a job.

“Finding longevity in your career is a big struggle, I see people not necessarily staying in the same job for a long time which then can create a turnover, etc.,” said Salon Professional Academy’s director of admissions Tarah Ferguson.

At the Black Hills Regional Job Fair, the variety of workers that show up are faced with the challenge of finding a job that suits their values, especially with the extensive average age range that shows up.

“I know there are some high school kids that will come when they get out of school and look for maybe those seasonal jobs, entry-level jobs for the summer. Then we see some people that are kind of either in retirement or pre-retirement that are just looking for part-time kind of work, but the bulk of the folks are going to be between ages 20 and 50,” said the Black Hills Regional Job Fair press relations chairperson Jeff Wangen.

Some reasons that lead people to ‘conscious quitting’ are an excess workload, poor compensation, blurred boundaries, lack of manager support, unclear or shifting expectations, and poor communication or conflict resolution skills.

An article by Teambuilding.com also provides some signs that someone could be thinking about “conscious quitting.”

• Decrease in productivity
• Sudden change in pushback
• Stops volunteering or taking initiative
• Avoidance and distance
• Lack of teamwork

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