As the media rages about the Big Quit, Quiet Quitting or the Great Evasion, our team has done the opposite. We have quadrupled, going from one to four full-time employees. Welcome Eléonore, Raphaëlle and Lucile! 👏
A new team means a new intake on the NGO’s strategy and roadmap. We held our team seminar to adjust our priorities for the next months and design our dreams and goals for the next three years. Let me tell you one thing, we cannot wait for the future!
With no further due, enjoy this week’s edition.
Jasmine
Betting on intergeneration relationships instead of quitting
The (in)famous big quit:
1/3 Americans quit in 2021.
In France, 42% of <35 year-olds say they really want to quit.
The number of quits and “ruptures conventionnelles” in France has risen up to 15% this term compared to 2019 - reaching unprecedented levels since 2008.
Why has the big quit come to Europe only this summer? Why are new phenomenons like quiet quitting or the great evasion popping up? In our opinion, the three variables holding together our workforce have snapped:
Salaries
Studies across the world reveal salary increases are one of the main reasons to switch jobs. With more liquidity in the workforce, and us being rational human beings, we change jobs to play with the system, to rise up the ladder and increase their salary (see article below). It seems salaries are not enough anymore. Snap.
Flexibility
The pandemic ushered a new era for flexible timetables and remote work, putting at the forefront of human resources the need for a work-life balance. Yet, two years later, many companies struggle to bring their teams back in the office, imposing to come back. Employees are not as flexible as they used to be. Snap.
Managers
French studies reveal the first reason to quit is not salary (which is number two on the list) but the lack of managerial support and burnout. Managers were the glue holding teams together amidst the last couple of years. Now, they are tired, fed up and for some of them burned out. Snap.
The big quit concerns every generation and threatens the intergenerational cohesion we need to tackle together the challenges to come. The need for purpose, meaning, utility is all the more relevant today. Only last week, after one of my conferences on the topic, a manager in her forties came to me asking for tools to interact with her junior employee. She felt furious at her and yet wanted to open dialogue. At least, she had the courage to want to make up to work together.
Youth Forever is a think and do tank on organisations and the new generation.
We are publishing our next study on youth governance:how to involve young generations in the exercice of power and responsibility in corporations? Reviewing and mapping past and current initiatives (shadow boards or reverse mentoring namely) to involve youth in strategy.
We are hosting an online event on the 11th of October at 12:30 to share the study’s results: answer this email to get your invitation.
To share your insights on the future of work and youth at work or to participate to our observatory’s work, feel free to reach out by answering this email.
🔎 Curation
Resources we discovered in the last weeks to shed light on youth and their relationship to companies.
« Ça me rendait malade » : quand l'éco-anxiété pousse à la démission - Les Echos
16/09/2022
“La « grande démission » est-elle alimentée par le stress lié à l'urgence écologique ? Si les études montrent que les salariés sont de plus en plus angoissés, elles ne disent pas encore si leur éco-anxiété les pousse à démissionner. En tout cas, nous avons trouvé quelques jeunes diplômés qui ont claqué la porte et, par la même, mis fin à leur dissonance cognitive […]”
A study Imagreen x Kantar Institut found 9/10 employees found the social and environmental situation preoccupying and 4/10 feel completely lost in their work.
Apec led another study on white-collar employees: 52% declare anxious about the climate situation. A number rising up to 63% for people under 35.
Is now the right time for Millennial and Gen Z workers to switch jobs? - The Hill
7/09/2022
Playing with the system work for Zoomers in the US. A few numbers stood out for us in this piece:
In April 2022 Gen Z job transitions were nearly 30% higher than the total reported a year earlier, compared with a +9.6% among Millennials.
A Bank of America Institute report published in May found, “it has paid off to move jobs,” especially for younger generations, who appear to have done “exceptionally well” by doing so.
The annual pay raise associated with job switches was around 17.6%, according to Bank of America data. For younger workers, that raise was even higher – Gen Z job changers secured an average +29.7% and Millennials received +20%.
According to a recent report from Pew Research Center, “young adults are more likely to change jobs in any given month.” The report showed those between the ages 16 to 24 switched employers at a monthly rate of 4.1% in 2019 and 4.4% in 2022, while those ages 55 to 64 moved at a rate of just 1.9% in 2022.
Le monde du travail à l’heure des grandes solitudes - Le Monde
26/09/2022
‘‘Le télétravail, l’individualisation extrême de certaines tâches, le management par le chiffre… autant de tendances qui peuvent isoler, et avoir de graves conséquences psychosociales pour certains salariés. […]”
Please feel free to send us by answering this email your reactions or your own curation to sharpen our minds and share with the community!
✍️ News
Last week, I was invited to the Hacking de l’Hotel de Ville by Paris&co (thanks again Loïc & Marie for the invitation!) to give our take on the big quit. It was such a pleasure to meet these entrepreneurs fighting for more flexibility in corporations. Laurent namely, whom you might recognise from Patron Incognito, has implemented mid-pandemic the 4-day work week across LDLC (not a small task I might add, being a retail and logistics company spread throughout France). The results have been surprising, astonishing even. Food for thought for sure - check him out on Linkedin.
Left to right: Laurent de la Clergerie, Niels Rolland, Thierry Cosme and me (Jasmine) - missing Marie Sipos, our brilliant moderator from Paris&co
👏 Other news
Emmanuelle Duez was a speaker at the NewDealWeek by Havas media on the 28th alongside Elisabeth Moreno, Frédéric Bardeau, Elisabeth Richard, Batoul Hassoun, Pascal Demurger, Caroline Gonin, Félicité Herzog and many others.
September seminars and webinars are going strong, we have had the chance to meet teams (juniors, managers and at Ariane Group, Amundi, BNP…
Jonas Chaurial, one of our speakers at Causes Toujours last July and by the way, a highschool student, has been invited to meet the Conseil D’Etat to talk about youth and climate through connections made at the event. Bravo Jonas!!
Last week was our first workshop with the Sismo design agency, our partner for our current study on youth paths in corporations. We reunited 15 young people to challenge our work so far and were surprised how much their perception of work differs from human ressources’ intakes. Next workshop with HR professionals on the 13th of October in the morning. If you want to join, answer this email.
Feel free to reach out to tell us about your news - we’ll be happy to share it with our community.
Until our next edition, have a great week.
— Jasmine
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