Sloan Management Review riporta i risultati  di una ricerca fatta nel 2021 sui motivi della risoluzione del rapporto di lavoro negli USA, quando la pandemia ha costretto il governo a dare sussidi alla popolazione per superare la crisi, innescando così quella che è stata definita Great Resignation.

Lo studio evidenzia che la paga personale ha avuto poca importanza nelle decisioni di lasciare l’azienda, mentre i 5 fattori più importanti si sono rivelati:

1. Cultura aziendale velenosa (di gran lunga preponderante)
2. Insicurezza del posto di lavoro e ristrutturazioni
3. Innovazione continua
4. Mancato riconoscimento del lavoro svolto
5. Cattiva risposta alla pandemia

Per quanto riguarda il fattore più importante, la velenosità dell’ambiente aziendale, lo studio ne elenca i tratti caratteristici:

Our analysis found that the leading elements contributing to toxic cultures include failure to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion; workers feeling disrespected; and unethical behavior.

Lo stress da lavoro (burnout) viene altresì riconosciuto come fattore importante, anche se non decisivo quanto la cultura aziendale.

Much of the media coverage of the Great Resignation focuses on high turnover among burned-out knowledge workers who are dissatisfied with their stagnant wages. Our findings are broadly consistent with this narrative. Industries that employ large numbers of professional and technical employees, like management consulting and enterprise software, have experienced high turnover. We found indirect evidence that burnout may contribute to higher levels of attrition among companies that excel at innovation. It’s worth noting, however, that our direct measures of burnout, workload, and work-life balance do not emerge as key predictors of industry-adjusted turnover.

A proposito di burnout, Jonathan Malesic sul Guardian pubblica la presentazione del suo libro intitolatato The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How To Live Better Lives. Il punto di maggior rilievo è che molte persone sono spinte da un’etica personale o collettiva a lavorare fino al punto di esaurimento, non per il bisogno di denaro, ma perché sono state abituate a valutare se stessi in base all’impegno emotivo che mettono nell’ eseguire i propri compiti.

Textile mill workers in Manchester, England, or Lowell, Massachusetts, two centuries ago worked for longer hours than the typical British or American worker today, and they did so in dangerous conditions. They were exhausted, but they did not have the 21st-century psychological condition we call burnout, because they did not believe their work was the path to self-actualization. The ideal that motivates us to work to the point of burnout is the promise that if you work hard, you will live a good life: not just a life of material comfort, but a life of social dignity, moral character and spiritual purpose.

L’autore punta il dito a sua volta su un’immagine e una cultura del lavoro distorte che promettono soddisfazione personale richiedendo un’etica lavorativa impossibile. Cita un sondaggio Gallup per cui i lavoratori davvero impegnati, “coinvolti nel proprio lavoro al 100%” sono circa un terzo della forza lavoro americana totale.

To managers who accept the survey’s findings, the two-thirds of workers who are not engaged are a serious problem. One business writer claims that disengaged employees cost employers an additional 34% of their salary through absenteeism and lost productivity. Another describes them as “silent killers”. Gallup warns that unproductive, complacent workers might even be lurking, unnoticed, in upper management. The actively disengaged will even destroy others’ time and accomplishments. “Whatever the engaged do,” Gallup asserts, “the actively disengaged try to undo.” In short, they are villains, bent on undermining our heroes’ mission.

Such rhetoric is not just laughably absurd; it’s also inhumane. The fact is, American workers are more engaged than those in every other rich country, by Gallup’s own measure. Their level of engagement may indeed approach the human limit. (In Norway, the engagement rate is half the level it is in the US, and yet Norwegians are among the richest and happiest populations on earth.