Is Shift Shock a Problem You Need to Solve?

Are you finding that some of your younger hires aren’t sticking around nearly as long as you’d prefer them to? There’s a good chance that these employees are experiencing a relatively recent phenomenon called “shift shock,” the latest workplace trend focusing on employee engagement and satisfaction. Let’s examine shift shock and how to avoid its impacts in your business.

First, let’s clarify what shift shock actually is.

What is Shift Shock?

Coined by Kathryn Minshew, CEO and co-founder of values-based career platform The Muse, shift shock is the feeling that a new employee at a company has when the position they accepted doesn’t align with what was described. 

After surveying their audience members, The Muse discovered that 72% of respondents had experienced this lack of alignment at some point.

If this concerns you, just take a look at some of the other findings this survey unveiled:

• 29% of respondents said that their feelings of shift shock included both a job’s responsibilities and the company itself
• 41% would tolerate shift shock for two to six months as a new hire
• 48% indicated that shift shock would inspire them to try returning to their previous job

What Causes Shift Shock?

A few factors have been identified as contributors to this trend:

Workplace culture no longer matches worker mentalities.
While the past years have seen a lot of focus and even admiration placed on those whose work becomes a part of their personality, this approach had the tendency to take high achievers and push them into overworking themselves. This kind of culture commonly promotes employee absenteeism and causes retention rates to plummet, starting the cycle over again.

However, younger workers—especially those just entering the workforce now—have made it somewhat clear that this is not the kind of environment they are interested in working in, clearly preferring to do meaningful work and maintain a healthy work/life balance.

Skills and talents are being underutilized.
Fresh to the workforce, many young people bring with them degrees that identify their proficiency in certain areas. However, these workers often cannot find and secure positions that would benefit from their past studies. Half currently work in jobs that don’t usually require a degree at all. On the other side of the equation, many employers perceive what seems to be a talent shortage.

Hiring practices lack transparency, hiding toxic workplaces.
Much like a job candidate is motivated to put their best foot forward, the hiring business has reason to do the same… otherwise, how will they attract top talent? However, if too much is covered up or misrepresented, a new hire will not likely stick around for long.

Promised policies are minimized or don’t exist at all.
Remote work has been a hot topic in business, with many job candidates and regular employees alike seeing it as a priority. Nevertheless, many employers and companies have resisted implementing it. As a result, their employees are frequently restricted to certain conditions regarding remote work—assuming remote work is an option at all. 

As you might imagine, shift shock is inevitable if a job seeker is promised the opportunity to work remotely but isn’t actually allowed to take advantage of it.

How to Avoid Causing Shift Shock and Losing Team Members as a Result

The best way to minimize the risk of shift shock interfering with your business and its hiring processes is to actively work to be as transparent as possible in these activities. The clearer an idea one of your hires has about the experience they can expect, the less likely it will be that shift shock will set in.

This means that you must also live up to all the expectations you set in your hiring processes. If remote work is promised, it needs to be available. Talents that the hiring process prioritizes must be featured in the workday. Technology that you claim will be part of your workplace processes must be actively used.

That’s where we come in. You can trust Microtechs to equip your employees with the tools they’ll need to take advantage of what you’ve promised from the employment experience. Contact us to learn more about our managed services by calling (415) 246-0101.