You're right if you think that only reads like half a title. I'm writing this as a follow-up to my last article about The Great Resignation. If you haven't read it I'd suggest going back and taking a look at it first. This article will make a lot more sense if you do.

What is The Great Regret?

The Great Regret is the fallout of The Great Resignation. While The Great Resignation was all about the mass exodus of employees who decided to pack up their jobs post-COVID and look for something better, The Great Regret is what's happened now they're starting to realise that the new, 'better' job they found isn't all it was cracked up to be.

According to recent studies conducted by the Harvard Business Review and the recruitment site The Muse, almost a third of US workers who quit during The Great Resignation are suffering from The Great Regret. The Muse even has a new buzzword for it. They're calling it "Shift Shock". In The Muse-speak, Shift Shock is "that feeling when you start a new job and realise, with either surprise or regret, that the position or company is very different from what you were led to believe." That's because the job changer has had:

• Difficulty assimilating and integrating into a company when everything is virtual, or

• Unmet job expectations: 30% of the 2,500 job changers in The Muse survey said their new role differs from what was described.

• Jumping the gun: 24% said they did not thoroughly evaluate the pros and cons.

Yes, these are all US figures, but what happens on that side of the pond – like The Great Resignation – has happened here too. A significant proportion of UK workers who left their jobs during The Great Resignation thinking the other grass was greener are apparently dealing with The Great Regret as well. 

It’s too easy to lay The Great Regret on workers' shoulders.

The majority of media coverage I've seen on this subject has been very 'one note', and the one note is: the workers who jumped onboard The Great Resignation and are regretting their decision have only got themselves to blame. 

I think that's too simplistic. Undoubtedly there are a certain number of 'quits' (a buzzword given to people who left their roles during The Great Resignation) who looked for something different post-COVID because they felt like a change and have now realised that the change they made wasn't what they anticipated.

However, that still doesn't take into account the vast number of employees who quit their jobs during The Great Resignation because they were sick and tired of their previous company's lousy leadership. For the media to wag its finger at employees who left their jobs and are now regretting it because they've discovered that the leadership in their new company is just as flawed as their previous leadership was feels like a get-out-of-jail excuse for all the ineffective employers who lost team members because they didn't value them properly.

Just because there are quits who regret their decision doesn't mean they should have stayed in their old role and put up with defective leadership and bad management.

In my opinion, the only thing those employees should be regretting about their decision to quit is they didn't do their due diligence on their new employer before making a move, i.e., the 24% The Muse says didn't evaluate the pros and cons.

It's not even about due diligence so much as common sense. Logically, the empty vacancy they've just moved into must have been filled previously by someone else, very likely someone who quit during The Great Resignation too. So why did that somebody else leave? There's a good chance it was because they were just as unhappy with their employer as the person taking their role was unhappy with their employer. For those quits, all The Great Resignation accomplished was jumping from one familiar hot frying pan into a completely alien hot frying pan. The intensity of the heat hasn't changed, only the environment. Could that be what The Great Regret is actually about?

What should leaders take away from The Great Regret?

Most of the commentators I've read seem to be not-so-subtly implying that many of the workers who jumped on The Great Resignation bandwagon are now paying the self-enforced penalty for "acting in haste and repenting at leisure." 

None of them is talking about this: that most people who quit their jobs during The Great Resignation didn't do it for knee-jerk reasons. They did it because they'd had enough of feeling undervalued by their leaders and managers, and the additional stress of COVID crystallised that dissatisfaction and brought it to a head. So they looked for something better and thought they had found it. Now they regret that decision because they've had enough time to realise their new leaders and managers are just as bad. 

But think about that for a second. That doesn't mean they're feeling Great Regret because they wish they hadn't left their old job. It means they've discovered first-hand that there are more bad leaders out there than anyone realised.

Why isn’t the media talking about that?

Why, as good and forward-thinking leaders, aren't we talking about that? 

What could we be doing to attract those workers who deserve something better so we can give them the opportunities they're looking for and benefit from their skills before the failed leaders snap them up with false promises and grind them even deeper into the ground?

Right now, The Great Regret message the media is sending is a dismal one. For workers, it's 'don’t resign from your job because you’ll probably be sorry if you do; the smart thing is to play it safe and put up with the devil you know’. 

On the flip side, the message for bad leaders is, ‘it doesn’t matter if your leadership is terrible and your team members quit; you'll always find another body to fill their seat.' True, they'll have to bear the expense of onboarding and training up that body, but it's unlikely they could care less so long as the desk is occupied and the work gets done.

If we don’t refocus The Great Regret and realise that what it’s actually highlighting is an epidemic of failed leadership, how are those 'bad apple' leaders ever going to be motivated to change their ways? 

In the meantime, how many skilled and talented workers who are undervalued by their current employer and should be working for us will now rule out coming to our side because The Great Regret has scared them into staying where they are?

The lesson is it’s time for all leaders to take a long, hard look at themselves and their management team, including me and you.

The world has reopened, but the world is different. All our expectations of what work should be are permanently changed. Not just here and in the US but globally. Employees expect more respect, opportunity, and open communication from their employers. They want their role to be more fulfilling. Many of them are even looking for that Holy Grail juggling act of a diverse but clearly delineated job, so they're not doing the same thing every day but know what they are going to do every day. On top of that, they want higher pay and a better work-life balance.

Depending on their industry, some of those expectations are unrealistic and probably always will be. Those workers must temper their expectations, or they'll never be satisfied.

But the expectation they should never temper is what they expect from their leadership. Good people deserve good leaders. It's as simple as that.

As a leader, what are your Great Regrets?

Every leader, even the good ones, has regrets. The only difference is that when a worker Greatly Regrets moving to another job, they can take the lesson and move on somewhere else. But when a leader does something they Greatly Regret, it often has the potential to do significant damage to their credibility and their business. It’s much easier for a regretful worker to find a new role than it is for a regretful leader to create and build a new empire.

Successful leaders know that people are at the heart of their business success. 

• Know what your employees and potential candidates are looking for. Understand what drives them. Position your organisation and culture in a way that appeals to those people and delivers on their requirements. Different demographics have different drivers. I’ll talk about that in a future article.

• Develop career paths for your workers.

• Set clear expectations. A lot of workers experiencing The Great Regret are doing so because their new employer didn’t communicate clearly and honestly with them about what was required. Don't be tempted to fudge the truth when hiring recruits because you think it will stop them from having second thoughts and seal the deal quicker. Articulate all your expectations in advance.

• When people leave, facilitate an exit interview to find out the reasons. You could learn some important information that will help you make changes that will stop other valuable employees from leaving.

• Check-in on former employees (the good ones, obviously!) so they know there's a door open if they want to return.

The author and motivational expert Daniel Pink has this to say about regrets; "The only people without regrets are people who have brain damage, people who are sociopaths, and people who have neurodegenerative diseases. The rest of us have regrets. And when we reckon with them properly, they can point the way forward."

You’re a leader. Lead well. That's the surest way to prevent The Great Regret from ever happening – for you as well as for your team members. 

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