Since the health crisis, more and more executives are considering resigning from their position. This is one of the lessons of the third Ifop barometer carried out among 1,000 executives for the Mooncard company, unveiled on December 8th. On the occasion of a survey used to determine the “mental load index” felt by these professionals, the polling institute notes that their desire to go elsewhere is obvious: 58% of those questioned think “sometimes” to resign, and 24% of them “often”. A desire to change jobs which is more present: among those who are thinking of leaving, 50% feel a desire “stronger than a year ago”. These figures are all the more disturbing in that they mainly concern the youngest members of the profession. At a time when we are wondering about the emergence of “quiet quitting”, this “work-to-rule strike” also practiced by certain executives, torn between their professional imperatives, their values and their personal life, these CSP+ caress the hope of going elsewhere.
The typical profile of the executive feeling the urge to resign? A rather young woman working in Île-de-France in the construction sector. Young people under 35 are thus the most likely to want to resign: 65% of executives at the start of their careers say so, compared to 57% for those aged 35-49, and 51% for those over 50. “These high percentages among young people are no doubt partly explained by their lack of connection with their company: the young people integrated during the Covid period did not benefit from all the integration processes, especially those in hybridization, especially that often living alone, they had no family or social unit to support them on a daily basis”, analyzes Laurence Breton-Kueny, vice-president of the National Association of HRDs (ANDRH). Women are also the most affected: 65% want to change jobs, compared to 54% for their alter egos masculine. Some sectors are particularly affected: construction executives say they want to leave their post in 79% of cases. They are 70% in trade. Education professionals – including teachers – are 61% in this case.
The mental workload of executives is stagnating
Remuneration is obviously one of the first factors leading executives to consider resignation. 28% cite it as the main reason for wanting to go elsewhere. But not only: the balance between professional and personal life, or the lack of prospects for development are also cited. “During the pandemic, executives taking a step back from work was not only spatial, notes Sophie Prunier-Poulmaire, lecturer in work psychology and autonomy. The health crisis was an opportunity a questioning of their relationship to work, a desire to better assess their professional life”.
Ifop and Mooncard thus use the “mental load”, namely “the psychological clutter caused by professional concerns, including outside working hours” as an indicator of the well-being of employees. The latter is calculated on the basis of six criteria: the fact of thinking about work in the evening, the weekend, the stress felt at the office, the difficulty of falling asleep at night, the impression “of not getting out of it “and the feeling of intrusion of his professional life into his personal life. Between 2021 and 2022, the mental workload has hardly decreased, oscillating from 4.6 to 4.5 out of 10. Again, young managers are the most affected, with a score of 4.9 out of 10. “C This is the third edition of our barometer: before today’s, we had produced one before the Covid and one in the summer of 2021. During these three years, the mental load has never dropped. is stagnating”, comments Tristan Leteurtre, CEO and co-founder of Mooncard.
“Too many tasks to manage”, lack of recognition
The causes of this mental load are multiple. The majority of executives (73%) thus believe first of all that they have “too many tasks to manage”. One of their first frustrations is the management of the administration: many point to their annoyance when faced with a surge of emails, or the management of their expense reports. In their barometer of the previous year, Ifop and Mooncard also cited these two elements as a weight exerted on their minds. The administrative task deemed the “most painful” was thus the expense reports, on a par with the management of days off (40% of quotes). Subjects that they consider “headaches” and which add to the general pressure. This silent work overload weighs on their morale. “When there is a gap between the desired objectives and the means implemented, the employee can either choose to express himself and assert his discomfort, to leave, or to be silent by tinkering on a daily basis”, notes Claire Edey-Gamassou, lecturer in management at the University of Paris-Créteil.
Since the beginning of the health crisis, executives have often had to manage both the needs of leaders and those of their teams. Many, however, feel that they have not been recognized at their fair value. In a previous study conducted by Ifop published in March 2022, more than half of respondents (57%) felt that society does not recognize their contribution at fair value. “The question of the need for recognition for this salaried population arises more than ever”, estimated Frédéric Dabi, the general director “Opinion” of Ifop, when commenting on the results of the barometer during a press conference. “There is a disaffection for the function of manager, which until now was considered a goal for many, believes Laurence Breton-Kueny. The position is perceived as difficult, and we see more and more people expressing the wish to no longer be in charge, or not to apply for it”.
The isolation of telework
This malaise seems to be particularly increased by telework. Long seen as an Eldorado, this distanced mode of operation now undermines the morale of employees. Thus, if the practice still arouses as many followers since the health crisis, 78% of the executives who practice it have the feeling “of not getting out of it” when they practice it (compared to 71% among non-teleworkers) . Telework is also considered as an intrusion of professional life into their personal life, the border between the two spheres being thinner. “At ANDRH, our surveys show the choice for eligible professions to limit themselves to two days of teleworking per week, adds Laurence Breton-Kueny. This allows employees to maintain a social bond which fades with distance, more even when you live alone”.
However, these practical suggestions will not remedy the last factor of frustration mentioned by managers: that of the discrepancy between their values and those of the company in which they work. Among those questioned, 23% put forward “the mismatch with the values of the company” to explain their desire to leave. “This feeling is all the more marked among employees as certain companies do not hesitate to display their desire to promote health at work, without this display being a reality”, points out Claire Edey-Gamassou. This “gradual decoupling between internal realities and external display of occupational health” also has a name, proposed by the lecturers in management sciences Jean-Christophe Vuattoux and Tarik Chakor: “greatwashing”. “This corresponds, for example, to eliminating discussion times between employees and management, and at the same time promoting the installation of a football table, continues Claire Edey-Gamassou. This attitude is all the less well received as the managers do not are not fooled. And that generates frustrations”.
Be careful, however, not to take these desires elsewhere as firm and definitive wishes. In France, in the first quarter of 2022, the resignation rate – the number of employees who resign compared to the total number of employees – was 2.7%, according to figures from the Direction of the animation of research, studies and statistics (Dares). This rate, although high, is not new, since it had even been higher during the 2008 crisis. Attachment to work has not decreased either, on the contrary: according to these same figures from Dares , nearly 20% of working people said in January 2021 that they felt a greater sense of “pride in a job well done”.