Workers are absolutely not interested in unethical companies these days – in fact, they’ve got the ick.
And now there’s new workplace trend to summarise it perfectly: “Conscious quitting.”
According to a survey of 4000 workers in the UK and US (from NetPositive Employee Barometer) people nowadays want to work somewhere which has a positive impact on the world.
Apparently, two out of three employees say their employers simply aren’t doing enough to improve the world. They believe that there’s an “ambition gap” between what firms promise to do and what they actually end up doing.
And, around half of respondents say they would resign if their company’s values do not align with their own.
A third said they have already handed in their notice.
These stats shoot up when just looking at Gen Z and millennial workers, too.
Half of this category are willing to take a pay cut to work for a company which shares their values.
Meanwhile, a KPMG study in January found 46% of employees want their employer to demonstrate a commitment to change, while one in five would actually reject a job offer if the firm did not display morally conscious values.
Officeology CEO and workplace solutions expert, Adam Butler, said that the rise of the trend was “unsurprising” after “quiet quitting” emerged last year.
This essentially meant doing the bare-minimum at work as an act of self-preservation while still holding onto their jobs.
“Quiet quitting had huge personal benefits, but as we know, Gen Z’s are statistically a more selfless generation,” Butler noted.
He noted that Deloitte found 49% of Gen Zers say personal ethics play a part in their career choices, while Hubspot found 64% are willing to pay more for sustainably made products.
He suggested that being part of a workplace which does not align with their personal values could therefore have a negative impact of their mental health.
Gen Z employees might therefore move to companies that address these issues openly.
He said this means there could be surge in Gen Zers moving to start-ups, with more established companies which don’t put their environmental goals first or keep them ambiguous, might struggle more with recruitment.
Butler encouraged companies to make “clear company values” a priority instead – that could include community support or goals to reduce carbon emissions – and make it part of the hiring process.