6 Ways to Overcome The Great Resignation in 2022

Scrambling, perplexed, surprised, disappointed, blind-sided, disrupted, discouraged. During the last eighteen months, ministry leaders across the country have experienced many of these emotions and more, specifically due to “The Great Resignation.” According to a Harvard Business Review, employees between 30-45 years old have had the greatest increase in resignation rates, with an average increase of more than 20% between 2020 and 2021. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021, with a record breaking 10.9 million open jobs at the end of July. But it doesn’t just stop at the business world. These trends transcend into church world as well. 

The good news? We now know this phenomenon is here and have eyes wide open. The bad news? It doesn’t seem to be going away in 2022. Before we jump to the natural question of “What can we do as Christian organizations to help prevent this in our organizations?”, let’s first look at the actual reasons why employees and pastors are resigning.

REASONS FOR RESIGNATIONS:

• Closer to Family

  We’re seeing many pastors, worship pastors, student pastors, etc. simply wanting to move closer to family. Health issues or even loss of family members in the midst of a pandemic have caused many ministry leaders to make the move closer to parents, grandparents or other family. Many may have already been contemplating this and COVID just gave the space and disruption to finally make the move. Others feel nudged to care for family through a re-evaluation of their own values and priorities.

• Rethinking Vocational Ministry

  The burnout that many have experienced plus a new outlook on “ministry” have caused some to leave vocational ministry altogether. Some have decided to change careers to better provide for their families. Others have re-imagined what “full-time ministry” looks like and now practice ministry in their new environment in non-church world.

• Unclear Paths Forward

  Following the pandemic, many ministry leaders have tried to wrap their heads around what the next two, five, or ten years looks like for them in their current organization. For some, the effects of the pandemic on their specific workplace have made their paths forward too unclear for too long.

• Compensation

  Many have left their jobs simply to better provide for their family. Some of those who were already being paid low lost their clarity of mission during the pandemic, only accentuating their need for higher compensation.

• Lack of Appreciation

  Lack of acknowledgement and “intrinsic” benefits have caused many to leave their roles as well. Their tanks are on empty and they have become disengaged with their teams, their workplace, and ultimately their mission. So naturally, they transition.

Though this certainly isn’t an exhaustive list, it’s a good start as we wrap our minds around these reasons and ACCEPT these realities. As leaders, we have a choice about how we can respond. 1. We can bow up and push back on these reasons, thinking, “well I persevered through the pandemic and pulled up my bootstraps in the same conditions, why can’t you?” 2. Or we can approach our people with empathy, care, and action in 2022 while trying to pave the best possible path forward for our people. Below are six practical ways we can respond and overcome The Great Resignation in 2022 to help mitigate these effects.

1. Double Down On Your Mission/Values

The pandemic made many things cloudy, including the “why” for many organizations. Though some actually strengthened their mission, others not so much. For some people, their jobs as they knew them changed or slowed down quite a bit, making them question their usefulness to the ministry or organization. For these reasons, it’s more important than ever to double down on your mission and your values in 2022. Communicate your mission in staff meetings, through email, in conversations; whatever avenues you can use. Make it clearer than ever why you do what you do. Communicate your mission twice as much as you think you should, and then double it! 

2. Exercise Empathy

A recent Forbes study shows that empathy is the most important leadership trait. With 67% of people experiencing increases in stress (according to Qualtrics) demonstrating empathy is a powerful antidote. Furthermore, showing empathy has proven to increase employee engagement. 76% of people who experienced empathy from their leaders reported they were engaged compared with only 32% who experienced less empathy.

3. Rally The Troops

It’s time to rally your team. After eighteen months of remote working, flexible work schedules, and virtual meetings, it’s time to focus on the team’s synergy. If able, in-person meetings and collaborative workspaces are good ways to pull everyone together again after a period of working more isolated. Cast vision with your team. Let them interact together. Create an environment to collaborate (All while following appropriate health and safety protocols of course). Also, think of ways to boost morale. People want to start feeling a part of something again, and as a leader you have the power to make that happen.

4. Care For The People, Not Just Their Productivity

As ministry initiatives ramp up in the new year, beware of the temptation to lead out of transaction. True care for the individual and relationship will hold your team together and ultimately increase retention. Remember that employees are still fragile from an array of experiences the last eighteen months. So they need a shepherd first, then a manager.

5. Re-evaluate Benefits (Extrinsic and Intrinsic)

COVID has created an employee’s market and compensation packages are becoming richer as good talent is harder to find. This is a great time to review your organization’s benefits and compensation. How can you add value to your employee’s benefits? What is some low hanging fruit that you can implement in your organization? You don’t have to break the bank to do this. Or you may want to completely revamp your budget to allocate significantly more resources towards employee benefits. At the very least, I would review your pay ranges and be sure everyone is in a fair range. There are compensation reports online you can use for this. Then, I would see if there are any additional benefits you can add. Maybe it’s increasing your employer retirement matching. Maybe it’s an amendment to the Paid Time Off Policy. You don’t have to compete with Amazon or Google, so let yourself off the hook. But you should take a look at other organizations that are similar size in your field and see how you can offer similar or richer benefits.
Re-evaluating benefits also includes intrinsic rewards; things that aren’t material in nature. For instance, publicly sharing appreciation for your employees, or celebrating team wins, or making deposits into the culture of your team or organization to give employees a better workplace experience are all ways you can enrich the intrinsic benefits of your workplace.

6. Develop Your Pipeline

Gone are the days of our parents and grandparents working at one organization for 30 years. In fact, the median tenure for workers ages 25 to 34 is 2.8 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median number of years that employees have worked for their current employer is 4.1 years. For these reasons, it’s more important than ever to develop a bench. You can decrease turnover, but you can’t fully eliminate it. So having a pipeline of leaders that you are intentionally pouring into will save you time, headaches, and loss of efficiency in the long run. For you this might look like picking 1-2 potential leaders to start meeting with on a regular basis. Or maybe you come up with a full blown leadership development program that you implement church-wide or across your organization. Whatever you decide, have an intentional plan that you can start this year.

We encourage you to pick a couple of these items that you can start working on today. A little intentionality will go a long way and improve retention, engagement, and morale in your team. We pray these actions will help resolve The Great Resignation in your organization in 2022 and help you build a stronger, smarter, and more effective team.