It's had a lot of air time over the past 12 to 18 months. But what did we actually see? I guess firstly from a data perspective, a more accurate descriptor might actually be the Great Migration because the data are showing that more people were actually hired in 2021 than quit. So people were quitting their jobs but then simultaneously moving into another one. And secondly, we heard about it from Robert Peston earlier.
But the second thing is that the reduction we saw in talent was part of a much wider trend that we've been observing over the past 10 years, where we're seeing drops in the amount of talent at the entry levels and leadership levels. And then the pandemic came along and simply exacerbated this pre-existing issue. So this resulted in a low supply of talent that we've been hearing about with these talent shortages that gave workers and employees greater choice and buying power.
And we saw that shift go from employers to employees. So that's a bit about the macro trends that we're seeing. Matthew, what kind of impact, if any, are we seeing this have on the employee experience?
MATTHEW MCDONNELL: Sure, thank you. We debated whether we would chuck the clicker to each other. We decided that wasn't going to work. So what we're able to do, there's lots being written about the state of mind of employees at the moment. And they're sort of buzz words. We heard "quit quitting" talked about a moment ago. And it's almost assumed that's what's happening. But what we're able to do is shine a bit of a light on the data.
So we work with thousands of organizations. We run employee listening programs so we can aggregate the data and look at it and charter it over time. So that's what this next slide is doing. So are people feeling less engaged? "Quiet quitting," the concept is I'm taking a salary. But I'm stepping off the pedal, not giving as much-- four questions, looking at this. But actually, we see no evidence up until now of quiet quitting. I'm actually just as inspired, strong passion around the business and recommending it.
Energy levels are actually going up. So we can't see it here yet in terms of quiet quitting. Now, by the way, two or three percentage points in these huge data sets would be a significant finding. So when we see anything like 15%, 20% lower, we get quite animated about this-- so huge drops in recruiting the right people, retaining the most talented people, having sufficient staff. So this is leading to big operational issues.
It's leading to a experience gap and all kinds of pressures for people. So it's less about that they don't want to go the extra mile. They literally can't. And that's what we're seeing very clearly in this data. On top of that, reward-- lower scores on reward. So we know that reward pay has stagnated. So I don't feel the deal is as good as in the past. What about working conditions, the new employee experience? So managers are getting great scores.
They're able to look after my wellbeing. They give me the flexibility. We've talked about that. But actually, given everything else, I'm still not able to balance work and personal life. And therefore, my overarching feeling is that leadership is not really interested in my wellbeing. Their actions don't match their words. So that's what we're seeing-- quiet quitting, not fully there yet. But if organizations don't address these challenges, we may see a drop in engagement. Laura, a little bit about the recruitment, the talent picture going forward-- trends.
LAURA ATKINSON: Yeah, thanks, Matt. So as we heard rather depressingly earlier from Robert Peston, lots of macro events playing out-- the latest theme kind of the upcoming economic downturn. And one of the questions we were asking ourselves is, we think it might be interesting to see, will this be enough to shift the swing from employers to employees? But will it go from employees back to employers as the economic downturn continues?
Will that drive risk aversion in talent to want to stay with employers who can offer greater job security? And we suspect in the short term, perhaps. We're seeing high levels of job attachment. So only 29% of people are actively looking to move from their organization. So more people are actually looking to stay. And you may recognize this diagram from earlier. We know that job security continues to be a really higher traction driver. So will this influence people's decisions about either staying in their current organization or the organization that they're going to?
But in the longer term, as we've heard, we suspect talent shortages are going to continue. It's going to continue to be difficult for organizations to attract talent because there's simply not the amount of talent there to attract. But also-- and we've touched on it as well earlier, the changing attitudes of the younger workforce that are coming through.
We're hearing that there's less loyalty amongst that population to organizations. People aren't expecting to spend their whole career in one place. And people are much more willing to move around, arguably having different careers within their working lives, and move for pay progression and experience.
So the next question, I think, is so what? What are we seeing successful organizations do in response? And again, we are competing with the football. So it only seemed fair that we had another football-related pun, which is our perspective is, it's a two-pronged approach. It's talent defense and talent offense. And we've purposely gone with the Americanization of that term because talent attack fell a little bit too aggressive. But Matt, I think you're going to talk first about what successful organizations do to retain the talent they need.
MATTHEW MCDONNELL: Sure, thanks. Yes, so the football analogy stops here. And I'm going to talk about what we see in organizations. And we call them change-masters. So how do you create an organization that is both one you'd want to stay with, creates a very positive culture, but also provides security, particularly in highly-disrupted times? So we've studied a group of organizations we work with.
It's a small group out of the hundreds and thousands of organizations we work with. And they manage change very effectively. They deliver better financial performance. So it's an elite group. And what can we learn from them? And that's what's on this slide here. On the left is what they do better than those who aren't managing it well or versus the average. And as I said, three or four percentage points is quite big.
These are huge gaps in terms of what they can offer compared to other organizations. And wellbeing here, number one focus area for these organizations. And that's not just policies and programmes and balance and how those are adopted. But it's actually leaders showing real interest in the wellbeing of employees. So the panel we're talking about has a more humanistic leadership style. That's exactly what they do.
I often think of the former Lloyds CEO, who brought wellbeing to the top of the agenda-- so really making that live and breathe in the organization. They get the deal right. They recognize great performance, non-financially, too. So they shine the spotlight on great performance. In terms of growth, that's very strong. I know what I need to do to move forward and also to manage my career here.
They get ahead of the talent recruitment challenges. So they're very proactively recruiting ahead of the curve so they don't get caught out. They do this extremely well. They're purpose-led, value-led organizations. And this is not just an overarching purpose. But they're very good at making everyone feel that they can contribute their own purpose within the framework of the overall. So that's around empowerment and individualization of roles. And they're very strong on that and that alignment with the individual.
They're empowering. They're devolved. They're operationally excellent. They're agile in the market. And finally, in terms of the way people work together, it's a high trust environment. People feel respected. They can challenge. So all the kind of attributes of psychological safety, they do particularly well in.
So this is the list we would suggest that, if you are focusing on anything at the moment and it's in these areas, then you're going to get a very good return on your time. So that's what it's about, retaining people. Let's look about the offense.
LAURA ATKINSON: Yeah, thanks, Matt. So when it comes to attracting talent, our perspective is to think a bit like a marketeer. And this is a four-step approach, which I'll talk through. So the first is getting really specific on, what is the critical talent that you need? We heard earlier, this shift from thinking about roles to thinking more about skills.
And a lot of the ways that we support clients in this space is really helping them to understand, what are the emerging skills in the critical talent groups that they have? And then even more importantly, in what roles are they working in which organizations? Where is that talent sitting to help with recruitment efforts? And then linked to that is understanding your talent competitors. Who is it that you're competing with talent against?
And increasingly, it's not necessarily your revenue competitors. And again, one of the ways that we're supporting clients is helping them understand who those talent competitors are. So on the right-hand side there, you can see a typical what we call talent flow analysis, identifying, what are the top organizations you're gaining talent from? And then who are you losing it to?
And we can do this on a macro level and then right down to specific critical talent groups. And this can be really interesting for lots of reasons, but from a talent attraction perspective, understanding, what's the employee experience that those organizations are offering? How does your offer compare to them? And how can you effectively position yourself against them?
The third one linked to that is about being bold, so getting really clear on who you are, what it is you're offering, and who you're looking for. And that's all about having a really compelling employee value proposition and getting that out to prospective talent.
And the final one is around trust. So despite the advances in AI and the scary fact that, for me at least, whenever you go on Instagram, they seem to know what I want before I do, the best marketing channel remains word of mouth.
So how can you utilize this in the talent space? Well, two examples of that is really leveraging your alumni network. Use them as a talent pool to source from. And linked to that is really reviewing your leaving experience, so that for good leavers, you're leaving the door open for them to walk back in because as we've heard increasingly over the course of today, that younger generation especially are more open to moving around throughout their careers. So you never know when somebody might come back through the door.
So as a bit of a wrap-up, our key takeaways, we agree with Robert Peston. We don't think talent shortages are going to rectify themselves. They look set to continue. Matt's talked a little bit about the impact we're seeing that having on the global employee experience. It's changed.
And it is impacting people's perceptions of pay and arguably in the future may have that impact on people's motivation. Despite all of this disruption, there are organizations who are thriving in this environment, those change masters. And they're doing so by paying really close attention to those aspects of employee experience that Matt talked through.
And one of the other things they're doing is getting more people in than they're losing. And they're doing that by being really clear on who they are, what they're looking for, what they offer, and who they're competing with.
So another big thank you for sticking with us at the end. I know it's been a long day. And I'll hand back over to Al to wrap us up.
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