The ‘Great Resignation’ came and went in a flash – what’s next?

“I’ve made no apologies for the fact that I don’t like the term ‘Great Resignation’,” says Charles Ferguson with a chuckle.

The general manager of Asia Pacific at global employment firm G-P continues: “I think it’s especially clear now that what was going on was instead a reevaluation of the relationship between employers and employees.”

Charles Ferguson, general manager for Asia Pacific at G-P / Photo credit: G-P

For him, the period that saw waves of people leaving their jobs wasn’t as simple as employees wanting to quit. Rather, the onset of Covid-19 led many workers to have “existential” reflections about their careers and life goals.

“While some people took this as an opportunity to switch career paths, others decided to take a break from the traditional workforce entirely,” he explains.

A few years later, however, the situation has changed – or, at least, returned to pre-pandemic levels.

“Are we going from one extreme back to the other? No,” Ferguson says. “What we’re living in today is the dream state of a healthy relationship between the work that needs to be done and the people who carry it out.”

This new situation could spell tons of changes in recruitment for both companies and workers in the coming years.

A new age

First, we have to understand why the Great Resignation – or the “Great Reevaluation,” as Ferguson calls it – disappeared just as quickly as it came.

During that period, many firms ramped up hiring to sustain their progress and achieve their goals. To attract and retain talent, they had to improve the company culture and environment, which gave employees a lot more benefits. As a result, jobseekers had a ton of leverage and choices, which is why they held much of the negotiating power.

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However, macroeconomic changes following the pandemic had a significant impact on this dynamic. Companies had to slow down their recruitment efforts, so the need to hire more workers wasn’t as dire as before.

At the same time, many of those who left their original jobs couldn’t sustain their previous lifestyles without the same level of income. They still had to go back to work, but with hiring slowing down, they could no longer ask for as much as before.

With workers’ leverage dropping, it led to a more equal status quo. The working environments and culture of many companies are still significantly better than before, but they don’t have to bend over backward to accommodate new talent.

In short, employees still get to enjoy better benefits and working conditions, but they no longer hold a large portion of the negotiating power. They now have to re-skill or upskill to make themselves more valuable.

New table stakes

Both the Great Reevaluation and the period prior to it may have been characterized by negotiating power being lopsided, but the next few years could bring about a different dynamic.

“In my mind, it’s going to be a race toward balance,” says Ferguson. That means neither companies nor workers hold all the cards – rather, both sides will be figuring out how to strike an equilibrium.

In terms of working conditions and support, it’s no longer something that companies will always have the final say on. Now, the race to balance includes a stronger focus on fulfilling employees’ needs as well.

Ferguson brings up mental healthcare as an example. “Just five to 10 years ago, nobody talked about it at work,” he says. “It wasn’t even a concept that you would mention.”

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However, because of the Great Reevaluation, stronger support for mental health has become a requirement for companies to attract and retain talent.

“Now, it’s table stakes – basically, the minimum requirement needed for a viable negotiation between workers and companies,” he points out.

Already, there are signs of movement in this direction. In Singapore, more companies are including mental health benefits in their corporate insurance coverage.

“If you don’t talk about how to treat your employees right and how you balance the sanity of the people doing the work, you’re [seen as] a heathen, a barbarian,” Ferguson adds.

Leveling the employment field

The proliferation of tech has made things more equal and democratic, as well as opened up new possibilities within recruitment and talent management.

The changes brought about by how the younger generations use digital channels such as social media means that in the coming years, companies cannot “assume that work is going to stay hierarchical,” says Ferguson.

Businesses will have to be more cognizant of how different generations work together within their organizational structure. While it can still hold true, it’s no longer a case where someone who is older and holds a more senior position means they would have the best way of doing things.

“And vice versa – just because someone’s young doesn’t mean they’re naive,” Ferguson adds. “With equal access to information and opportunities, education and training has become a democratized resource that everyone can gain access to, regardless of where they are in the world.”

Photo credit: Shutterstock

On that last point, the surge in remote working setups also means that employees can contribute equally on a scale that was not seen prior to the pandemic.

“If push comes to shove, we can ostensibly do the same work anywhere that we want,” he points out.

The great helping hand

On the tech front, Ferguson says that the coming age of AI will be “critical” for firms, especially in how they recruit, manage performance, augment work, and design processes.

For him, it goes back to the importance of employing people from different parts of the world and creating diversity in the workplace.

“Back in the day, the race to move labor offshore was predicated by labor arbitrage,” he says. “Now, the reality is that you have to build in talent arbitrage – essentially, going to other countries because of their untapped talent.”

While this could be challenging – hiring and managing people remotely and helping them achieve the same level of output can be difficult, after all – there are several ways that AI could help bridge the gap for such setups.

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For instance, integrating AI into information sharing systems can help workers automatically locate the resources they need to complete their tasks without needing to wait for help from colleagues.

AI-driven improvements to cybersecurity could also ensure that important data hosted on the cloud is still protected even if remote workers don’t have the best security systems on their individual devices.

Ferguson stresses that AI will quickly become an important utility for companies, even if it’s still currently considered as disruptive.

“Workers’ ability to remain relevant will be predicated on their ability to accept that this tech is here to help them,” says Ferguson. “They should be willing to try new things and embrace the idea that harnessing AI is just one more thing that they have to work on and practice.”

Diving deeper

These coming changes in the employer-employee dynamic could just be the “tip of the iceberg,” as Ferguson puts it.

Within his own role in G-P, he’s already seen how tech empowers companies to tap into hundreds of markets around the world in real time – such as hiring remote workers, onboarding them, and completing other processes completely online. These are capabilities he wouldn’t have thought possible just three years ago.

As recruitment undergoes these developments in the next few years and with the closer integration of tech like AI, Ferguson is confident that there’s a new dawn coming for the sector.

“We just need to keep an open mind to all the new possibilities,” he says.

G-P [Globalization Partners] is a pioneer and recognized leader in the global employment industry, helping to set the highest of standards in recruitment compliance. It’s hosting an event to share more about how businesses can plan for growth in any economic environment. Sign up for it through this link.

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This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.