The Pandemic Changed Us. Now Companies Have to Change Too.

The global workforce was toiling away under stress during the Pandemic. We became exhausted, our self-efficacy decreased, and we became cynical. People left their jobs in droves after hitting the wall. There are a lot of reasons why people leave. The workload is unsustainable. Many organizations continued to move forward. Employees were not able to meet the demand. Employees were pushed past their break points. Employees are changing their social contracts with work. Mental health awareness, a focus on increasing fairness, hybrid offerings and flexible hours, more active listening, real-time feedback, and personalize communication are all initiatives that are working to solve issues around burnout in a more upstream way than we have seen before. New workplace policies are a necessity going forward and leaders are starting to understand that.

Our collective mortality for the last two years made a difference. The shared experience of facing big challenges in our pre-pandemic lives was unique. Our collective perspective related to work was one area of our lives that was dramatically changed.