Businessperson Walking Out With Exit Sign On Wall

Workers like to stay put at jobs during difficult times, but are more likely to act on job hoping urges after a threat passes. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is winding down and many businesses are having their employees return to the office, soon could be a time where workers will leave in a "great resignation," Anthony Klotz, an associate professor of management at Texas A&M University, told Bloomberg Businessweek.

While workers are often motivated to jump ship after tough times have passed, Klotz says they'll be even more driven to leave now because the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many to think about family time, remote work possibilities, commutes, passions and even their own mortality.

Klotz expects as soon as the summer that businesses will begin considering whether they want to allow workers to work-from-home more often than they did before the pandemic in an effort to encourage them to stay. He says that a lot of workers would rather remain with their current employer, so the ability to work-from-home might  be all the incentive they need to stay out, even if the luxury is offered just part of the time.

Of course, if there's less people working in offices, it's possible that there will be less cleaning work to go around. Klotz's theory could also impact turnover experienced by jan/san distributors, building service contractors and facility management companies.

For more information on reasons frontline cleaners leave, retention and recruitment strategies, worker incentives and wage specifics, and more, download the Frontline Labor Reports here.