What is The Great Detachment? Employee engagement hits crisis point

Two years ago, workers held all the cards. Staff turnover was at an all time high as staff switched jobs sometimes multiple times a year, in a trend termed ‘The Great Resignation’.

With the economy still wobbly, and many firms having paused hiring, that golden era is over. Employers might cheer at what they view as a return to the normalcy of reduced resignations.

But it’s not all good news. Staff may be staying put, but UK offices, experts say, are now entering a period of ‘Great Detachment,’ as employee engagement plummets. Below, we explain the causes and definition of this new, unwelcome workplace trend.

What is The Great Detachment and what’s causing it?

Staff feeling disengaged from their jobs is not a new phenomenon. Post-COVID, many workers began to reassess their career priorities and searched for meaningful work opportunities. As a result, the UK had one of the worst-ranked workforces for engagement.

At that time, however, job market traffic was free flowing. Employers were hiring in droves, optimistic about a speedy economic recovery. Workers who left could quickly be replaced.

In a cooler jobs market, the resignation-recruitment cycle is much more one-sided. Indeed’s mid-year hiring report, released last month, showed that job postings have fallen by 20%.

Workers who didn’t take the plunge two years ago are today living with deepening career regret; they feel unhappy in their roles and yet also unable to leave them.

HR leaders have seen the signs of this change. Micro-trends such as quiet quitting and quiet vacationing were early indications that staff were feeling demotivated and checking out.

The result, experts are saying, is The Great Detachment; where employees are suffering from low morale but do not feel able to search for new jobs.

Young employees most detached

Gallup’s 2024 Employee Engagement survey found that younger Gen Z employees have seen the greatest decline in engagement since March 2020. Gallup reports that sentiment for younger staff has dropped by 5-9% across seven engagement areas:

• Feeling cared about by someone at work
• Having opportunities to learn and grow
• Feeling connected to their employer’s mission
• Having progress discussions with managers
• Being given opportunities to develop
• Feeling that their opinions count

This could be due to the business landscape they have entered, which has been marred by mass layoffs. Roles at major tech companies such as Meta and X, professions that young people were told offered the best career chances, have perhaps been hardest hit. Big businesses such as IBM have made plans to replace many human roles with AI.

Some say pay is an issue. Official data shows that while UK salaries have largely kept pace with inflation, entry-level wages have stagnated, resulting in a generation of employees who feel undervalued and unmotivated.

Virtual College, a training provider, analysed 5,000 work-related search terms for 2024. It found that ‘how to ask for a pay rise’ was the highest searched-for term this year.

Are bosses contributing to the problem?

Analysis of the Great Detachment theory has largely focused on its prevalence in the lower rungs of the workforce. However, the issue could go all the way to the top.

68% of UK managers today say that bosses are failing to acknowledge rising stress levels. The data suggests that employees perceive an increasing indifference from department heads and directors towards their people, in favour of pursuing business growth.

With job security and wages dwindling, the disconnect between leaders trying to exercise strategies, and employees setting work boundaries, is doubtless causing workplace conflict.

Relations will not have been helped by a report into CEO salaries published mid-August. C-Suite pay has risen consistently in the past few years. According to the High Pay Centre, the average FTSE 100 CEO out-earned the median UK worker in just three days this year.

Can The Great Detachment be fixed?

With most employers striving for growth this year, businesses must not neglect their people strategy when planning. A disengaged workforce can have a devastating impact on output.

Thankfully, years of ‘bare minimum Mondays’ have helped global HR teams to diagnose the issue. As the Gallup survey shows, staff feel undervalued and potentially dehumanised, creating an organisational culture of dispassion and ill-feeling.

Bosses may be tempted to throw money at the issue. But even if it were possible in a stark trading landscape, the answer to The Great Detachment does not lie in a one-off bonus.

Properly changing your culture means addressing specific issues that might be contributing negatively. Review your employee benefits to judge if they are competitive enough. Use feedback from employees to shape your ideal culture and company values.

As the saying goes, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. While profitability might feel like the right end goal, no business will succeed if it allows The Great Detachment to fester.