Hanging on to employees is tougher than ever. Here’s how Chicago-area companies are navigating the Great Resignation.

Millions of workers have just plain had it. Propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve examined their lives and livelihoods, found their jobs wanting and quit.

It is the year of what has been labeled the Great Resignation, and it has employers worried.

In July, 3.98 million people quit their jobs, close to April’s all-time high of 3.99 million and up from 3.18 million in July 2020, according to a September report released by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Meanwhile, the number of job openings hit a high of 10.9 million.

Human resource experts and companies appearing on the Tribune’s list of Top Workplaces say it’s in employers’ best interest to figure out a winning formula for retaining workers and note that those who do will be positioned to benefit.

What’s driving workers out the door? Seventy-four percent of employers responding to a survey in July by Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said departing workers are seeking more flexibility, and nearly 60% pointed to burnout as the top reason. Perceived low-wages, child-care and COVID-19 concerns were also factors.

Many workers have developed “COVID clarity,” said Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, which has more than 300,000 members.

Due to the pandemic, “we all paused,” he said. “We were forced to. Many people decided to engage in a serious introspective process, and work was not off limits. They came out of it saying, ‘I don’t want to do that job; I don’t like these people.’”

The trend toward remote work, which started prior to the pandemic, also took further hold.

“Workers and organizations alike discovered that there’s lots of different ways to get work done,” said Carol Semrad, principal of Chicago-based human resources consulting firm C. Semrad & Associates and a past president of the Chicago chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.

As workers were at home managing family life and work, they learned how “to stitch together the fabric of their lives and have found they don’t want employers to be driving all the choices. They want to make choices for themselves,” she said.

“I think there’s a real exhaustion that workers are talking about in terms of how they are being treated and deciding they can determine how they want things to be for themselves.”

A wide range of industries have been impacted by the Great Resignation. But the hardest hit include trade, transportation and utilities; leisure and hospitality; accommodations and food services; and professional and business services, according to the labor department.

The July survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that 68% of U.S. employers who responded are worried about an exodus of talent, and 85% reported having trouble filling open positions.

Sixty-three percent of responding employers in the Challenger survey said they were offering incentives to entice talent to stay. Companies are awarding higher pay and signing bonuses of $500 to $3,000 that are tied to workers staying for a certain period of time, Senior Vice President Andrew Challenger said.

Companies are also dangling flexible work hours, remote work options and hybrid work arrangements in front of workers in an effort to encourage them to stay, according to the Challenger survey.

Besides flexibility, employers are focused on how they can make their culture more inviting, one “that embraces inclusion, equity and diversity and that focuses very much on people having a sense of purpose in their work,” Taylor said. “It’s not just enough to pay people a lot of money. Increasingly employees want to know why all this matters. Am I aligned with the organization’s values?”

The pandemic ushered in a workplace reset, he and others contend.

“I think it’s forever changed,” Semrad said. “I think that people have seen what can be, and this will redefine how work gets done. … I definitely think organizations are going to value more of the whole person.”

Grace Rasulo quit her job doing creative marketing and strategy and in May began work in a similar role as a marketing adviser for New York-based Compass Inc., a technology and real estate company that appears on the Tribune’s list of Top Workplaces, as measured by the consultancy Energage in Exton, Pennsylvania. Compass, which had 15 offices in the Chicagoland area as of September, is among the companies on the list that ranked particularly well for its ability to retain employees. What led Rasulo to switch employers?

“It’s the things that Compass offers, a really collaborative environment where people support each other and are excited to come to work. They care about work-life balance, things I realized I wanted, so I made the decision to join and haven’t regretted it,” she said.

Compass has been intentional about creating a workplace culture that attracts and retains top talent, said Regional President Rachael Rohn. A priority is “creating really strong opportunities for people, hearing what they need to be successful, creating that environment for them and caring enough about the people to grow with them and give them projects and work that matches their needs,” she said.

“If you hire the right people and give them the right environment, there’s nothing to stop anyone from being successful. Ideally, that’s how you get to keep people. If you take care of the people, they take care of the company.”

Chicago-based Lakeside Bank also had a particularly strong retention score.

Workplace culture has been key to Lakeside’s ability to attract and retain talented staff, said Vice Chairman and President David Pinkerton. When recruiting staff, Lakeside looks for people who “are trying to find a home and are not job hoppers,” he said. “We want people that want to stay and that understand our culture.

“We have compassionate and empathetic leadership. I think we have that old school family, team-oriented type of workforce where everybody pulls together. There are no fiefdoms, no squabbling among departments. Everybody works as a team, and because people have been here so long, they know each other very well.”

Patricia “Pat” McNulty, vice president of Human Resources, said the culture at the bank is devoid of micromanagement, which makes it an attractive employer.

“Employees are empowered to perform their roles, and if they have questions or if there is something where they don’t have the authority to make a decision, they can quickly get answers. Our executive team is very accessible and very responsive,” McNulty said.

Skokie-based Fairview School District 72 Superintendent Cindy Whittaker credits her organization’s mentoring program in part with helping it attract and retain top employees. She said the district, which also ranked high among the Tribune’s top workplaces for its ability to retain workers, has a teacher retention rate of 95 to 97 percent.

“Whether you are a bus driver, cafeteria worker, certified teacher or administrator, we have a program that really brings people on board,” she said. “We match them with a veteran in a role similar to theirs. We have regular get-togethers, informal and formal, to really guide those folks. We feel that support is necessary to really bring people on board to our culture and to support them in their successes in their role, whatever it might be.”

She sees the district’s reputation as a “school community” as another talent magnet.

“There’s a very close-knit family feel amongst the students and parents in the community and the teacher community,” she said. “We push strong community values. We all care for the children here like they are our own, and we care about each other. We try to be sensitive to the needs of our employees. I think that is greatly appreciated.”

Providing a wide range of opportunities for advancement helps Northwestern Mutual-Chicagoland retain and attract the best and brightest, said Managing Partner Ryan Kramer.

“When somebody comes in, they can quickly start figuring out once they get good at their role if there are other roles they want to grow into that would be a step up in opportunity or responsibility or pay, whatever it is. We give those opportunities for people to grow. It’s not if you come in this role, that’s it.”

Lisa Trychta is a prime example.

“I started here 12 years ago part-time as an accounting assistant for $10 an hour and moved to full-time,” she said. “I had two or three different roles.”

Today she is director of operations.

@Properties also points to the importance of advancement opportunities at the real estate company as helping it keep and get top talent.

“As we grow, we want to promote from within,” said Chief Operating Officer Joni Meyerowitz.

The company takes a holistic approach when it comes to its culture, said co-CEO and co-founder Michael Golden.

“Culture is everything,” he stressed. “It’s finding ways to recognize people, to show people you care about them. Obviously, salaries and money are very important, but it’s beyond that. People want to be valued and feel good about where they’re working, that their workplace cares about them and cares about their community.”

@Properties’ holistic approach includes providing financial assistance to employees who purchase a home through @properties, awarding Rolex watches to top performing agents and outstanding staff, monthly company sponsored lunches, staff parties and a focus on charitable giving through its nonprofit foundation, @gives back.

A collaborative culture has helped the Cooperative Association for Special Education enjoy a high staff retention rate, Executive Director Mary Furbush said. The Glen Ellyn-based organization provides services for students with physical, emotional, developmental and other disabilities as well as coaching and training to school staff. Administrators listen to and are open to new ideas, and staff are attracted by the meaningful work, Furbush said.

Diversity is a key component of the workplace recruitment and retention strategy at the Chicago office of Meta, formerly known as Facebook, Chief Culture Officer Nikki Newsome said.

“The senior leadership team is 64 percent women, over 60 percent people of color and approximately 20 percent are veterans,” she said. “In many companies, once you rise in the ranks, that diversity starts to dwindle, but at Facebook Chicago, our diversity is across all levels.”

Fun is also a key part of the mix. Staff have enjoyed burger bars and cookie hunts. The company has pop-up shops, where it invites local small businesses to come into the office and display their wares, and staff are sometimes given discounts to the businesses, Newsome said.

Today, and always, “you must be intentional about maintaining and building your culture,” she said. “It is something we think about consistently.”

In today’s climate and going forward, it’s imperative that employers adapt and adjust, or they will lose the talent game, warned Taylor.

“You can’t grow without the right people,” said Challenger. “There is this period of expansion, coming out of the depths of COVID. Companies that are well staffed and able to move quickly are gaining market share and taking advantage of the boom in spending. Employers that aren’t able to deliver because they don’t have enough people are falling behind. In thinking about business strategy, the people strategy may be the most critical piece.”

Francine Knowles is a freelance writer.